





Book_ 


Copyright N?_ 

COPYRIGHT DEPOSIT 


/ 

























































































































































































































































































































































































PUNGENT TRUTHS 


The engraving of Mr. Roberts 
is a copy of an original drawing 
presented to the publishing house 
by Mr. C. C. Husted, of James¬ 
town, New York. The likeness 
is strikingly characteristic, and 
will be appreciated by all who 
knew the author. 


































































































• . 


























PUNGENT TRUTHS 


BEING EXTRACTS FROM THE 
WRITINGS OF 


The Rev. Benjamin Titus Roberts, A. M., 

WHILE EDITOR OF “THE METHODIST ’ 

FROM 1886 TO 1890 


Compiled and Edited by 

WILLIAM B. ROSE 




CHICAGO : 

THE FREE METHODIST PUBLISHING HOUSE 
1912 









Copyright, 1912 

BY 

W. B. ROSE, Agent 



£ Cl. A 319 8 2 2 

t I • 


PREFACE 


In compiling this volume the aim has been to present 
the pointed truths contained in the briefer editorial para¬ 
graphs written by the Reverend Benjamin T. Roberts 
while editor of The Free Methodist. 

The relation which the author sustained to his readers 
as one of the founders of the church of their choice, and as 
a spiritual father to many of them, together with the fact 
that, these writings carry the wisdom and experience of 
one for more than twenty-five years in direct touch with our 
early denominational history, will make this book of spe¬ 
cial interest. 

The scope of these editorials is exceedingly broad. 
The compiler was surprised upon bringing the several para¬ 
graphs together to find that though the author had written 
a number of times upon the same subject, and at various 
intervals during a period of four years, yet each writing 
presented some phase of the subject not treated elsewhere. 

In those rare instances where there may seem to be a 
similarity of thought, or a scripture passage appears a 
second time, connected with some subject, the reader will, 
because of the peculiar setting, commend us for leaving 
the paragraph as originally written. 

Nearly all the titles of subjects have been supplied by the 
compiler, the original writings having appeared without 
them. The arrangement of subjects is alphabetical, and 
that of sub-divisions is designed to be logical and also 
alphabetical, so far as comports with a logical order. Each 
paragraph is numbered. 

For convenience, two indexes are provided: one being 
general, though condensed, and the other analytical, but 



vi 


PREFACE 


full, in which both subjects and sub-divisions are in alpha¬ 
betical order. All references are to paragraph numbers. 

“Pungent Truths’’ is sent forth with the prayer that 
these words may again be clothed with the spirit in which 
they were written, and that so the reader may feel the 
power of “thoughts that breathe and words that burn.” 
Chicago, August 17, 1012. W. B. R. 



INTRODUCTION 


“Pungent Truths” is rightly named. It is a compilation 
from the editorial writings of one of the most pungent of 
speakers and writers. 

Benjamin Titus Roberts was not accustomed to speak 
or write for the entertainment of the public, but rather to 
produce conviction. His words generally had the same 
effect that Saint Peter’s did on the day of Pentecost—those 
who heard them were “pricked in their heart.” That is 
the natural effect of pungent discourse, since pungent means 
“pricking, stinging, piercing.” 

Such is the character of the collection of truths herewith 
presented. They are utterances under the reading of which 
ordinary mortals will not sjeep, any more than a man 
would sleep with needles or thorns piercing his flesh. Like 
the “Word of God,” which they clearly elucidate and forcibly 
apply, they are “living and active, and sharper than any 
two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing asunder 
of soul and spirit, of both joints and marrow, and quick 
to discern the thoughts and intents of the heart” (Heb. 
4:12, R. V.). 

Truths of this character are greatly needed in this age 
of indifference to spiritual things, in these times of general 
paralysis of conscience, and of prevailing moral laxity even 
on the part of professedly religious people. The Laodicean 
age in which we live needs pungent truths to arouse men 
from their carnal security, bring them to their senses, and 
produce within them that deep moral concern without 
which life would be frittered away in mere trivialities. 

The reading of some books tends to produce narrowness 
of vision; but the perusal of “Pungent Truths” will broaden 
one’s perspective of Christian life and service. The truths 
contained in this volume cover an extensive range, including 



viii 


INTRODUCTION 


every topic of vital importance in relation to Christian ex¬ 
perience, life and service; also numerous paragraphs and 
articles on educational, sociological, political and reform 
subjects. 

This volume will be especially helpful to those who 
“hunger and thirst after righteousness”—to those who would 
excel in holy living. The discussions on Holiness will be 
instructive, inspiring and otherwise helpful, alike to 
anxious inquirers and to those farthest advanced in Chris¬ 
tian experience. 

There is much also that will be particularly quickening 
and stimulating to the Christian minister. A glance at the 
Index reveals the fact that the number of topics relating to 
preachers, preaching, pastoral work and kindred duties, is 
well proportioned to their importance. The hints, sug¬ 
gestions, advices and more extended discussions on these 
subjects are gems of wisdom. 

The author of “Pungent Truths” excelled as a writer. 
His scholarship was deep and broad. His style was chaste, 
clear, convincing and highly suggestive. Few writers could 
say as much as he in so few words; few were so highly 
gifted in the art of vivid illustration. 

While the contents of this volume have been arranged 
by the compiler with reference to logical order, yet for the 
most part each item is independent of that which precedes 
and follows it. The topics are numbered, and alphabetically 
indexed. The book therefore may be read with profit, either 
consecutively or by topic. The numbering and indexing 
of the nearly 650 topics also renders it convenient for ready 
reference. 

The Rev. W. B. Rose, Agent of the Free Methodist Pub¬ 
lishing House, as compiler and editor, has rendered a valu¬ 
able service to the denomination and a most commendable 
contribution to Christian literature in the production of this 
work. His work is also a well-deserved tribute to the 
memory of the chief founder of the Free Methodist Church, 
who was also its first General Superintendent (Bishop) and, 
from the date of his election in 1860 to that of his death in 
1893, was also under God its chief guiding spirit. 


INTRODUCTION 


ix 


We are much gratified that these editorial productions, 
covering the four years during which Mr. Roberts was 
editor of the Free Methodist, have been gathered up and 
presented to the public in permanent form. “Pungent 
Truths” will perpetuate the influence of a great and good 
man. “By it he, being dead, yet speaketh.” 

Evanston, Illinois. Wilson T. Hogue. 



















. 
























*» 









































































































« 

























- - 



























































v 


















. 






























* 













PUNGENT TRUTHS 


1 ACCURATE STATEMENT, Importance of 

Form habits of accuracy. It will add to your happiness, 
your usefulness, your prosperity, and your piety. You can 
depend upon yourself, and others can depend upon you. 
A text of Scripture which you will want to use, commit 
carefully to memory, and quote it as it is. Do not mis¬ 
state nor exaggerate any facts you may relate. If you make 
allusions to any of the arts or sciences, see that you do 
not get things mixed or wrong end to. 

At a camp-meeting in Minnesota, we referred to a Pres¬ 
byterian brother in the East, on whose land a railroad station 
was located. In every deed he gave he stipulated that the 
property should be forfeited, if intoxicating liquors or beer 
were sold upon the premises. A man opened a saloon on 
a lot which he had bought. The Presbyterian brought suit in 
the courts. The case was carried to the Court of Appeals, 
the lot declared to be forfeited, and liquor kept out. The 
occurrence took place a thousand miles away, and twenty 
years before the relation of it here referred to. We had no 
thought that any one present knew anything about it. To 
our surprise a resident of the community, a gentleman well 
known, who made no profession of religion, confirmed all 
we had said, and stated that he himself “was the victim”— 
the man who made the attempt to run a saloon and was de¬ 
feated. This little incident seemed to add greatly to our 
influence with the congregation. People appeared to think 
they could rely upon our statements. 

It greatly cripples one’s ability to do good, when those 
who hear him feel that they must make allowance for what 



2 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


he says. Be accurate in your statements. Keep accurate 
accounts. 

2 ALTAR WORK: Prayer Important 

Brother, when any persons come forward to be prayed 
for, and you undertake to lead in prayer, then pray for 
them. If you are not in a spiritual condition to do it, then 
be honest and go forward for prayers yourself. But do not 
substitute a sermon on your knees for prayer. Do not at¬ 
tempt to inform the Lord what he is. Come to him in 
simplicity, and in plain, earnest language ask him to do 
the work that the Spirit makes you feel needs to be done. 
Many words are not necessary. Borrowed beauties of ex¬ 
pression are not necessary. But definiteness and sim¬ 
plicity, and faith, are necessary. If the seeker is not un¬ 
der conviction, as he should be, pray conviction upon him. 
If he lacks light, try and bring to his soul the light of the 
Holy Ghost. If the Lord gives you anything for him, it can 
be said in a few words; say it, and then keep him looking 
to the Lord for deliverance. All our members should be good 
workers at the altar. They may be, if they will. If you are 
not a good altar worker, will you become one? Consecrate 
yourself to God for this service, and he will fire you up, and 
use you. 

3 ALTAR WORK: United Prayer the Means 

“Evil communications corrupt good manners.” Some of 
our people, by working in popular revivals, have got in a 
bad way of working. They talk too much, and sing too 
much, and pray too little. They do not appear to get the 
burden of souls upon them. They do not pray with the 
intercession of the Spirit, “with groanings that cannot be 
uttered.” We must never forget that souls are not saved by 
prayer, but by the power of God in answer to prayer. We 
do not pray to men, but to God. Therefore, if fifty pray at 
once it is no confusion, for God can hear fifty or a thousand 
at the same time, as well as one. Invariably, where people 
take hold together in this way, the best results are realized. 
The converts are more numerous, and stronger, and longer- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


3 


lived. Let us do the work which God has committed to us 
just as nearly as we can in God’s own way. 

4 ALTAR WORK: Salvation only by the Holy Ghost 

Souls are saved by the power of the Holy Ghost, and 
not by the force of logic. When Paul reasoned of “right¬ 
eousness, temperance and judgment to come, Felix trem¬ 
bled” (Acts 24:25). That was as far as logic could carry 
him. But when Paul, “filled with the Holy Ghost, set his 
eyes” on Elymas, and in response to his words the great 
sorcerer was smitten with blindness, “then the deputy, when 
he saw what was done, believed, being astonished at the 
doctrine of the Lord” (Acts 13:12). So, when sinners 
come forward to our altars, we should pray the power of 
God upon them, and not carry on a running conversation 
with them. We should rely upon the Holy Ghost to do the 
work in answer to prayer. Seekers should be encouraged 
to pray; and we should hold on with them until the bless¬ 
ing comes. If they do not pray right, we should lead them 
right, and put short, appropriate petitions in their mouths. 
Only get them to pray in earnest and in faith, and they 
will get through. “Every one that asketh receiveth.” 

5 AUTHORITY To Be Respected 

The Bible inculcates a proper respect to persons in au¬ 
thority. “Render therefore to all their dues; tribute to 
whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; fear to 
whom fear; honour to whom honour” (Rom. 13:7). To 
“despise dominion, and speak evil of dignities,” the Apostle 
gives as marks of those who have “crept in unawares”; “un¬ 
godly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness” 
(Jude 8 and 4). Ungodly pride and ambition are at the 
bottom of this unwillingness to respect those above us. The 
celebrated Dr. Samuel Johnson says: “Your levelers wish 
to level down as far as themselves; but they can not bear 
leveling up to themselves. They would all have some 
people under them; why not, then, have some people above 
them?” Love of having the pre-eminence makes sad havoc 
with personal piety and with the prosperity of the church. 


4 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Such people are ready to reject their preachers. Diotrephes 
would not receive even the Apostle John, the beloved dis¬ 
ciple. 

6 AWAKENING, Efforts For 

Unless the whole community is converted, a preacher 
ought not to be satisfied with preaching only, or mainly, to 
his own members. Where this is the case, there is something 
wrong with the preacher. If there is no interest, he should 
awaken an interest. But alas! Probably none needs awaken¬ 
ing more than himself. A man can not be deeply interested 
in anything without, if he tries, exciting an interest in others. 
This is doubly true in the great matter of salvation. A 
lack of interest in the congregation—much more, the lack of a 
congregation—proves that the preacher is spiritually dead. 

“Let Zion’s watchmen all awake 
And take the alarm they give.” 

If you can not get the people to come to you, then go 
to them. Visit them at their hom6s. Show an interest in 
them, a sympathy for them. If you are in town, hold a 
meeting in the street, just before the time for meeting in 
the church. Form a procession and march, with singing in the 
Spirit, to the church. This never fails to draw a congre¬ 
gation. Keep up an interest in the meeting. Long, dull, 
prosy prayers and exhortations drive the people away. Get 
others to take a part in the meeting. Begin in the Spirit, 
and go on in the Spirit to the close. 

7 AWAKENING, True 

A desire to flee from the wrath to come is the very be¬ 
ginning of a genuine religious experience. No one can be 
justified, much less sanctified, without it. If in every case 
this desire shows itself by the fruits above specified, then it 
must follow that the vast army of jewel-wearing, novel¬ 
reading, cigar-smoking, money-grasping professors of re¬ 
ligion, with which the churches are filled, can not possibly 
be in a state of salvation! They have not attained to the 
first stage of a truly religious life. Many of them will say 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


5 


that they do not feel condemned for these things. But those 
same General Rules say that all these “we are taught of 
God to observe, even in his written word. And all these 
we know his Spirit writes on truly awakened hearts.” Then 
it must follow that those who have no conscience on these 
matters are not awakened. Oh, what a need there is every¬ 
where of doing thorough work for God! 

8 BACKSLIDER? Are You a 

Are you a backslider? The question is not untimely nor 
impertinent. Do not dismiss it readily. You may be back¬ 
slidden in heart and not know it. Many are. You know 
that something is not right, but you never suspect that the 
trouble is with yourself. You think that the preachers you 
hear and the papers you read are not as they used to be. 
The way things look to us often depends upon our own eye¬ 
sight. Perhaps the difficulty may be, in part at least, with 
yourself. It may be that Divine truths do not affect you as 
they once did, because you have lost your interest in Di¬ 
vine things. The failure of sermons to touch you may be 
owing to your own hardness of heart. It is possible that 
even you have lost your first love. It will do no harm to 
look into the matter. 

9 BACKSLIDER Deceived 

Many are backslidden and do not know it. Their pro¬ 
fessions are high—their state of grace low. “Because thou 
sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need 
of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and 
miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17). 
It is a sad thing not to see; it is still sadder not to know 
that one can not see. Christ could not do much for the 
Pharisees. They were so observant of some of the practises 
of religion, that they would not admit the possibility of their 
not being in a state of salvation. They were censorious of 
others; they were charitable towards themselves. Many are 
in this same condition. They are strict in some things, 
loose in others. Their religion is a religion of selfishness. 
They have unbounded admiration of themselves. Any one 


G 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


who approves of them and their course they fellowship; those 
who disagree with them they condemn. They are not wil¬ 
ful hypocrites, but they are deceived. 

We are too apt to judge of our religious state by com¬ 
paring ourselves with those around us, instead of exam¬ 
ining ourselves by the Word of God. Many a one is floating 
rapidly down to hell with the quieting remark, “I guess I am 
as good as any of them.” Suppose you are. If they are not 
good enough to go to a Heaven of purity, into which there 
can not enter anything that defileth, your being as good as 
they are will not save you. ‘‘For I say unto you, that except 
your righteousness shall exceed the righteousness of the 
scribes and Pharisees, ye shall in no case enter into the 
kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 5:20). Condemning others will 
not save ourselves. Whatever is the condition or conduct 
of others, we must be right with God. The betrayal of Christ 
by Judas did not excuse Peter for denying his Master. He 
had to repent for himself. The great question for each of 
us to settle is, “Am I right with God?” 

10 BACKSLIDER, A Redeeming Feature of a 

There was one redeeming feature in the backslidings of 
Solomon—he did not put in a claim for what he had done 
and given towards the building of the Temple. He did very 
wickedly in yielding to his wives, and building altars to 
their favorite divinities. For the sake of domestic peace 
he sacrificed the purity of the worship of Jehovah, and 
“went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and aft¬ 
er Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.” And he 
built high places “for all his strange wives, which burnt 
incense and sacrificed unto their gods” (1 Kings 11:8). 
But he did not put a mortgage on the Temple to pay for 
them; nor did he withdraw the offerings which he had 
made to God. He made no attempt to turn the Temple over 
to the priests of Baal. Bad as his case was, it might have 
been worse. But if God was angry with him, how must he 
feel towards those who labor to destroy what they formerly 
built for God? 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


7 


11 BACKSLIDER, Return 

If you have, in the slightest degree, wandered from God, 
come back to him at once. Do not wait till you have broken 
some great commandment before you bring him a broken 
heart. Open disgrace is not essential to true penitence. The 
sooner you confess wherein you have been wrong, the less 
you will have to confess. Nothing can possibly be gained by 
waiting. You are constantly growing harder, and you may 
grieve the Spirit until he leaves you. 

“Wanderer from thy Father’s home, 

So full of sin, so far away, 

Wilt thou any longer roam? 

Oh, wilt thou not return to-day? 

Wilt thou? Oh, he knows it all. 

Thy Father sees; he meets thee here! 

Wilt thou? hear his tender call. 

‘Return, return!’ while he is near.” 

Do not wait for some great occasion, or for some eminent 
saint to help you. You have now the best occasion—a time 
without distraction, the best and greatest of helps—the 
Holy Spirit. And God is saying, “Return unto me, and I 
will return unto you” (Mai. 3:7). Then come back at 
once, however slightly or however widely you may have 
wandered. 

12 BACKSLIDER, Death of a 

For years he was a happy Christian and a successful 
worker in getting souls saved. He went into politics. Dur¬ 
ing the excitement preceding election he neglected prayer- 
meetings to attend political meetings. He became cold and 
formal. He obtained an office. Before his term of office 
expired he gave up religion entirely. He took to smoking, 
and then to drinking beer. We went to see him. He re¬ 
ceived us cordially. We reminded him of former days and 
urged him to get back to the Lord. He laid his hand on our 
shoulder and with great emphasis said, “Brother, I have 
not a single doubt but that if I die as I am I shall be 
damned. But I have not a single desire to be otherwise.” 
He had grieved away the Spirit. 


8 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


“There is a line, by us unseen, 

That crosses every path; 

The hidden boundary between 
God’s patience and his wrath.” 

A few mornings after our conversation, he went out 
from his home apparently as well as usual. In the heart 
of the town he suddenly fell in the street. A crowd gath¬ 
ered around him. They tried to lift him up, but he was 
dead. The inexorable summons had come, and all unpre¬ 
pared as he was, he was ushered into eternity. Beware of 
the beginnings of backsliding. 

13 BACKSLIDING When Old 

Probation lasts while life lasts. Every day a man lives 
in sin he is becoming hardened in sin, and the probability 
of his ever becoming converted is lessened. The longer 
and more faithfully one lives in the service of God, the 
more confirmed are his habits of piety and obedience to 
God; and the harder it is to turn him aside into any of 
the ways of sin; still, till one gets through to glory there is 
a possibility of falling. God is able to keep us. He in¬ 
spires and prompts and leads, but he never interferes with 
the freedom of the will. All along the way of life there 
are by-paths, which lead into the broad, well-traveled road 
that ends in destruction, and any one may easily pass over 
to it if he will. Those who have for many years done 
valiant service in the cause of God, are not exempt from, 
the danger of falling and, if they forsake God. they insure 
their destruction just as certainly as if they had never 
known him. “When a righteous man turneth away from 
his righteousness, and committeth iniquity, and dieth in 
them; for his iniquity that he hath done shall he die” 
(Ezek. 18:26). Solomon was the ablest man of his age. 
His intellect was of the highest order; his knowledge un¬ 
equaled. He had been brought up in habits of piety. His 
conversion was clear, and to him was made a miraculous 
manifestation of God’s presence and blessings. For many 
years he had the clearest evidence of the fulfilment of 
God’s promises in his behalf; and yet we read; “For it 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


9 


came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned 
away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not 
perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David 
his father” (1 Kings 11:4). If Solomon fell when he was 
old, then who is exempt from the liability of falling when 
he is old, and after he has spent happy years in the serv¬ 
ice of God? 

One danger of backsliding when one is old, results from 
the love of peace and tranquillity which grows upon us as we 
grow in years. We do not like contention: “Young men for 
war.” Old men have had enough of it. They have seen 
that its track is strewed with desolation, and that all the 
Christian graces and useful arts flourish best in times of 
peace. Especially do the aged want peace in the family. 
This was the case with Solomon. He did not forsake God 
because he had any inclination himself to do it; but his 
wives were clamorous. They wanted altars built for their 
false gods; so Solomon, for the sake of peace, hearkened 
to their requests and built an high place for Chemosh, 
the abomination of Moab, and for Molech, the abomination 
of the children of Ammon. He did not tear down the altar 
of Jehovah; sacrifices were offered upon it as usual. He 
only compromised. 

The same thing, in substance, is often done in our day. 
Men who have served God faithfully for years; who have 
clear convictions of the incompatibility of Baal-worship 
with the worship of Jehovah, will, at the instigation of 
their wives, pay their money for the support of Masonic 
preachers in whose Christianity they have no confidence* 
and for the rent of pews, when they know that God’s 
house should be just as free as his proffered grace. 

As in the case of Solomon, they may keep up the form 
of worship, and so they fail to see, until too late, that 
they have in reality backslidden from God. It is better 
to have war than wantonness in the household. It is more 
necessary to be true to the principles of the gospel than to 
have peace. 

Another cause of backsliding is love of money. Many, 
as they grow old, grow covetous and stingy. The stream 


10 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


of beneficence flowing from them grows smaller the longer 
it flows. The less use they have for money, the more they 
love money. They hoard up property for relations who 
do not need it, and who will spend it in the service of the 
devil. As an old writer expresses it, “They go to hell 
making money, and their heirs go to hell spending it.” 
They hope to have durable riches, though they have not 
been “faithful in the unrighteous mammon” (Luke 16:11). 
They hope God will give them a heavenly inheritance, and 
yet they do not give God any part of the earthly inheritance 
which for a little time he entrusted to their hands. They 
do not even remember him in their wills. 

Ye who are on the downhill side of life, will you not 
listen to the words of warning written in love by one of 
your number? Let us see to it that whatever suffering 
fidelity to God may cost us, we endure to the end. Let 
us not be weary in well-doing. The reaping time is at hand. 
Let us go on till the Master calls, and “earnestly contend 
for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints” 
(Jude 3). Whatever of conflict may await us, let us say 
with Paul: “But none of these things move me, neither 
count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish 
my course with joy.” Then, when the warfare is ended, 
we shall be able with him to say: “I have fought a good 
fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith: 
henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteous¬ 
ness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at 
that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that 
love his appearing” (2 Tim. 4:7, 8). 

14 BAPTIZED HEATHEN 

Fletcher was a very loving, amiable man, but he was a 
very outspoken one. He has one chapter entitled, “An Ad¬ 
dress to Baptized Heathen.” The matter that follows is 
worthy of the title: 

“O ye that regard pleasure, profit and honor more than 
justice, mercy and the fear of God; ye that, far from em¬ 
bracing Divine truth at the hazard of your reputation, 
spread abroad scandalous untruths to the ruin of other 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


11 


people’s reputations; ye who try to persuade yourselves that 
religion is nothing but a monstrous compound of superstition, 
enthusiasm and priestcraft; ye who can violate the laws of 
temperance or honesty without one fearful remorse, break¬ 
ing through promises, oaths and matrimonial or sacramental 
engagements, as if there were no future state, no supreme 
Judge, no day of retribution, no Divine law enacting that 
‘whosoever loveth or maketh a lie shall be cast into the lake 
of fire'; that ‘the wicked shall be turned into hell, and all 
the nations that forget God,’ ye are the persons whom I 
beg leave to call baptized heathens.” 

Reader, are you a Christian? 

15 BELIEVING AND CONFESSING 

There is an inexhaustible fountain of blessings in that 
saying of St. Paul’s, ‘‘With the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto 
salvation.” The believing must be with the heart , the af¬ 
fections, the will, and not merely with the head—the intel¬ 
lect. Believing in this way brings one into righteousness, 
into the principle of right, into the determination and the 
power to do right. This is a great blessing. But with 
the mouth —not merely with the life—confession is made unto 
salvation. There must be the frank, outspoken confession, 
if you would taste in their fulness the joys of salvation. It 
was for his own benefit, as well as for that of others, that 
the Psalmist said, “Come, all ye that fear the Lord, and I 
will declare unto you what he hath done for my soul.” You 
can not keep the blessing God has given you unless you de¬ 
clare it. Confess it to your family, to those with whom you 
come in contact, and, on proper occasions, to the great con¬ 
gregation. 

16 BIBLE, The 

The Bible is a wonderful book. It never ceases to be inter¬ 
esting and instructive. The more we read it, the more we en¬ 
joy it. We always find in it something new. It is a field, the 
fertility of which increases the longer, and the more thor¬ 
oughly, it is cultivated. The more there is taken from it, 


12 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


the more it is capable of yielding. It is a mine, which 
grows richer and richer the deeper it is worked. We lose 
our interest in other books after reading them a few times. 
It is not so with the Bible. It is the oldest book in the 
world, and yet it is always fresh and new to those who 
devoutly read it. It was adapted to every period of the 
world’s history in the past; it is especially adapted to our 
times. Beloveds, read your Bibles. 

17 BIBLE Mysteries 

The mysteries of the Bible are not greater than the 
mysteries that surround us. The words of the Apostle 
sound strange to some: “There is a natural body and there 
is a spiritual body.” “How is it possible,” says the ma¬ 
terialist, “that there can be a spiritual body?” We will tell 
you if you will explain to us how it is possible that the 
same elements, combined in precisely the same proportions, 
should form substances so unlike in their appearance, and in 
their properties, as water and ice and snow and steam. 
The most ordinary life is enveloped in mysteries. But, 
thank God! we may all understand enough of the mystery 
of godliness to make us happy in life and triumphant in 
death. He whose ear God hath opened can hear songs in 
the night. 

18 BIBLE Never Changes 

Fashion changes, but the Bible never changes. Like its 
author, it is the same yesterday, to-day, and forever. Clocks 
may vary, but the sun never varies. It always keeps time. 
It never rises a second too late, nor sets a second too 
early. So the Bible presents an unerring, invariable stand¬ 
ard of right and wrong. One generation may sanction 
slave-holding, but through all generations the Bible rings 
out, “Therefore all things whatsoever *ye would that men 
should do to you, do ye even so to them.” In some coun¬ 
tries some who read the Bible may love strong drink; 
but in all countries the Bible sounds the warning, “Look 
not thou upon the wine when it is red, when it giveth his 
colour in the cup, when it moveth itself aright. At the 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


13 


last it biteth like a serpent, and stingeth like an adder.” 
Churches may dress like the world, live like the world, 
and seek enjoyment in worldly pleasures; but in all churches 
the Bible utters the solemn charge, “And be not conformed to 
this world.” Then love your Bible, carefully obey its di¬ 
rections, and it will lead you at last to a full and unending 
participation of joys immortal. 

19 BIBLE Reading 

We recommend all our readers to read the Bible through 
once a year by course. You will feel an interest in it, that 
you can not when you take it up and read at random. We 
read through last year the Revised Version of the Bible. 
It is a good thing to have a copy to consult when you come 
to a passage in the Old Version that you do not understand. 
It sometimes brings out the meaning of the original more 
clearly. But on the whole we like the Old Version im¬ 
measurably better. We think it is destined to hold its 
place. It is dear to the hearts of millions of God’s 
children. 

20 BLESSING OF GOD: It Maketh Rich 

The humblest place is made pleasant by the presence 
of God. If we had more of his Spirit abiding in our homes, 
we should need less costly furniture, and fewer fine clothes. 
Debts, with their never-failing annoyances, would be avoided. 

“God bless our going out, nor less 

Our coming in, and make them sure; 

God bless our daily bread, and bless 
Whate’er we do—whate’er endure; 

In death unto his peace awake us, 

And heirs of his salvation make us.” 

This prayer of Martin Luther is a good one to be adopted 
by every family. We should not take a single step in life 
upon which we can not have God’s blessing. Still more 
beautiful is the blessing which Aaron and his sons were 
commanded to pronounce upon the children of Israel; “The 
Lord bless thee and keep thee: the Lord make his face 


14 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift 
up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace” (Num. 
6:24-26). 

Let us prize the blessing of God as above all price. 


21 BREAD, Daily, Provided 

Green pastures are provided by the Great Shepherd for 
all his flock. The food is nutritious, delicious and abundant. 
And the sheep gather it as they need it, each for himself. 
There is none laid up in store. It is not fed out dry by 
hired men. The prayer which our Lord teaches us is, 
“Give us this day our daily bread.” There should be no 
starvelings in the flock. Saints may be without a preacher, 
but their great Provider is always at hand. He supplies 
their wants, sometimes in one way, sometimes in another; 
but he never leaves them to suffer for lack of bread. “The 
young lions do lack, and suffer hunger: but they that seek 
the Lord shall not want any good thing.” 

22 BURDENS OF THE LORD Not Crushing 

The burden which the Lord lays upon us is not crushing. 
The yoke that Christ would have us bear is not galling. 
Sometimes, in the work of the Lord, we allow others to 
put burdens upon us which the Lord never imposed. We 
suffer a yoke to be put upon us which Christ never intended 
us to wear. Others may have more knowledge than we in 
many things; but we should live so near the Lord that we 
hear and know his voice in all matters relating to our 
duty. The promise is general: “All thy children shall be 
taught of the Lord.” We should each seek to be divinely 
taught, especially in regard to our own duty. We may 
always expect an answer when, in humility and submission, 
we inquire, Lord, what wilt thou have me to do? 

23 BUSINESS FOR GOD, Not Slothful in 

He who is doing business fqr God should, of all men, 
be most diligent in business. His work is the most impor¬ 
tant of that in which a human being can engage. His wages 
are the very highest. None should surpass him in fidelity 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


15 


to his calling. He should make the most of every hour 
and every day. 

We' once lived near a blacksmith, who was diligent in his 
calling. The ring of his hammer has roused us up to read 
God’s Word and pray—to study and devotion. The Holy 
Spirit said, “Ought you to be less diligent to lay up treasures 
in Heaven, than this man is to secure an earthly competence?” 
So his industry was made to us a means of grace. 

24 CAMP-MEETING, Location of 

The success of camp-meetings depends very much upon 
their location.. Our experience has demonstrated that it 
is not profitable to hold them in some neighborhoods. 

1. They should not be held on grounds used by others 
as pleasure grounds. The people come there, not to be in¬ 
structed, but to be entertained. They will not attend often 
enough during the week to get sobered down so as to be¬ 
come serious. When they come, it is to visit, to hear “smart 
preaching,” to criticize. They are joined to their idols. Let 
them alone. 

2. They should not be held where the people are hostile 
or indifferent. We should not, as a rule, hold camp-meet¬ 
ings where the people do not feel sufficient interest to fit 
up the ground. This holds true, even where we have no 
members in the neighborhood. The smallest attendance we 
saw at a camp-meeting last summer was about a mile from 
a city, in a thickly populated neighborhood. The light had 
been offered to the people, and they had deliberately rejected 
it. They did not want to be troubled further, and so 
stayed away. 

3. Locate it as conveniently to a depot as you can, and 
have it in a friendly neighborhood. Do not be afraid of the 
towns. The people residing in them, generally, are getting 
so civilized that they will not disturb a properly conducted, 
salvation meeting. 

25 CAMP-MEETING, Manner of Preaching at 

If you preach at camp-meeting, be sur£ and preach the 
gospel. Do not try to pull down anybody; but hold up 


16 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Christ. If you have a grievance against .any of your broth¬ 
ers or sisters, do not go to camp-meeting to give them an 
airing. Slander and ridicule and sarcasm and personal 
abuse, however merited they may be by those for whom 
they are designed, are no parts of the means which God 
has ordained for the salvation of mankind. Plain preaching 
need not be provoking. It will not be if it comes from a 
heart full of tender love. One moved by deep compassion 
can so utter the most searching truths as to melt instead 
of madden. Men and women may be cut to the quick; but 
they will repent under the truth spoken in love, and will 
not resent what they feel was said from no other motive 
but to do them good. Elijah appears to have been severe 
in his conflicts with the priests of Baal; but he carried 
the people with him. He destroyed the priests of idol¬ 
atry ; but he did it to rescue their deluded followers. He 
brought the people back to God. His example gives no 
support to those who, by their ill-timed denunciations, drive 
away those who were half-inclined to go with them. If 
you can not cast out devils, be careful how you stir up 
devils. 

26 CAMP-MEETING, Preaching at 

The preaching at our camp-meetings should be of the 
most awakening character. Fine sermons are out of place 
everywhere, especially at camp-meetings. The people do not 
need to be delighted, but to be convicted. Superficial, world¬ 
ly religion is on the increase. Its utter worthlessness to 
save the soul should be clearly shown. The radical truths of 
the New Testament should be proclaimed with all authority. 
Where our work is no more thorough than that of the 
popular churches, it is not needed. Those who heal slightly 
should reform at once; for they are in danger of losing their 
own souls, and of taking their hearers with them down to 
hell. God’s law is not repealed. The sermon on the Mount 
has not become obsolete. We must not only preach the 
truth, but insist upon it, and enforce it. Those converted 
among us should be so thoroughly saved that the popular 
churches will not want them. They should be so in love 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


17 


with Christ and his truth that they should everywhere be 
ready to bear a bold testimony to his power to save from 
bondage to tobacco, and pride, and the world, and the 
lodge. 

27 CAMP-MEETING: Preachers Should Be Burdened for Souls 

The preachers at a camp-meeting should feel a deep 
concern for the salvation of souls. The wretched, danger¬ 
ous condition of the unsaved should rest as a heavy burden 
upon them. They should have something at least of the 
feeling of the Psalmist, when he exclaimed, “Rivers of 
waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law” 
(Ps. 119:136). The more the preachers have of this feel¬ 
ing, the deeper anxiety will God’s people feel for the lost. 
A spirit of awakening will rest upon the congregation, and 
sinners will be converted to God. “As soon as Zion travailed, 
she brought forth her children” (Isa. 66:8). But if chair¬ 
men and preachers are indifferent at heart, or in appear¬ 
ance, no matter how good and how pointed the preaching 
may be, the results will not be satisfactory. To have the 
best help from abroad is a positive injury to a meeting if it 
is the cause, or the occasion, of those upon whom the re¬ 
sponsibility of the meeting should rest, slipping from under 
the burden and making the meeting only a season of social 
enjoyment. 

28 CAMP-MEETING: Preachers Should Remain at the Altar 

It does not look well at a camp-meeting, when sinners 
come forward to be prayed for, to see the preachers generally 
scatter and leave the prayer-meeting. The preachers may 
have a good excuse. The one who preaches probably has; 
but those who are not exhausted by incessant labors should 
make themselves felt at the altar. A preacher of the gospel 
should be able to prevail with God in prayer. He should 
be an example and an inspiration to the people in this re¬ 
spect. The real battle for souls has only begun when 
sinners have become so awakened as to take a position 
before the world as seekers of salvation. It is a critical 
time, and the most fervent prayers of the righteous should 


18 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


be offered up for their salvation. If they give up without 
being converted, they may become discouraged, and give 
up seeking the Lord until it is too late. At such a crisis, 
for those preachers who are fresh and strong to go away 
looks as if they felt but little interest in the salvation of 
souls. This appearance of evil should be avoided. 

29 CAMP-MEETING, Public Criticism at 

If the Free Methodist critic will carry on his business 
at camp-meetings, let him do it when the outside world 
are not present. Those in charge of the meeting should 
see that none are allowed, on the Sabbath, before the great 
congregation, to make wholesale attacks on the piety of our 
preachers and members. Such attacks do not evidence 
either piety or sense. They can do no good—they may do 
much harm. They should not be allowed. 

30 CAMP-MEETING, Family Altar at 

Family prayers should not be neglected at camp-meet¬ 
ing any more than at home. The one in charge should give 
out the hour for both morning and evening prayer. 

Said a gentleman to us at a camp-meeting: “I am not 
a Christian, but my wife is. For twenty years I have not 
been so crowded with work that I did not, with my men, 
attend family prayer which she conducted. But I have been 
here a week, stopping with a Free Methodist preacher—and 
he is a good one—and we have not had family prayers 
yet.” 

We should not like to take the responsibility of such a 
preacher. We should be afraid we might hear God say, 
“His soul will I require at thy hand” A man, to attend a 
camp-meeting in that way, must at heart feel a good deal of 
religious interest. Who can say that, with proper effort by 
those with whom he stopped, and in answer to persistent 
prayer at the family altar, he might not have been con¬ 
verted? Where Abraham pitched his tent he builded an 
altar. 

Keep up your family altars at the camp-meetings, and 
everywhere you go. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


19 


31 CAMP-MEETING, Strangers at 

When strangers come to your camp-meetings, or other 
meetings, treat them with proper courtesy. You need not 
indorse them as Christians, if they do not bring forth the 
fruit of Christians; but you should treat them civilly. You 
can be friendly where you can not feel the fellowship of the 
Spirit. You should hold up the cross of Christ; but do 
not make it needlessly offensive by your repulsive manners. 
Sinners drive; saints draw. Use people so, when they come 
to your meetings, that they will want to come again. A 
friendly spirit will make more converts than a criticizing 
spirit. Love attracts; bitterness repels. His enemies called 
Christ “a friend of publicans and sinners.” Let this be one 
of the w r orst things they have to say of you. Show un¬ 
sparing severity toward sin; but be very kind to sinners. 


32 CAMP-MEETING, Thorough Work at 

We hope that all our preachers who have charge of 
camp-meetings, or of services on camp-grounds, will see that 
thorough work is done for God. The ranks of superficial 
workers need no recruits from Free Methodists. City and 
country are overstocked with doctors of divinity who heal 
slightly. Men must be gross sinners who can not be satis¬ 
fied with indulgences which popular churches permit among 
their members. The broad road is crowded. Men and 
women of all ranks of society crowd and jostle each other 
in their eager chase after sensual delights, which are al¬ 
luring them down to hell. Let our work be to turn people 
from darkness to light, from the power of Satan to God. 
Let us get people converted from the world to Christ. 
Whether our converts be few or many, let us do our part 
to have them genuine. Eternity is at hand. 

33 CAMP-MEETING: Success 

A camp-meeting, to be a success, must be held steadily to 
the work of getting sinners converted and believers sancti¬ 
fied. It will not do for the one in charge to give up his 
time to managing secular matters, and let the meeting run at 
random. He must feel the burden for souls upon him, and 


20 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


devote all liis energies to securing an outpouring of the 
Spirit upon preachers and people. Let God be manifestly 
present, and there will be little need for committees of or¬ 
der. Satan may rave, but he will be bound. A baptism of 
the Spirit will supersede the necessity of contrivances to 
raise money to pay expenses. 

Expect great things from God. As a rule, invite people 
to seek salvation at every service. Especially look to have 
a great ingathering of souls on the Sabbath. Pray for it, 
work for it. 

84 CAMP-MEETING: Collections 

Camp-meetings are not common fishing-grounds open to 
all who, with baited hook, wish to draw money from the 
pockets of the people. If a man makes a fish-pond on his 
own ground, and stocks it with fish, he who goes there to 
catch them without permission is worse than a common 
thief. The fish caught may go to feed the hungry, but 
that does not make the action right. So, if a society, or a 
quarterly conference, are at the trouble and expense of 
getting up a camp-meeting, they have a right to say to 
what an extent, and for what purpose, advantage shall be 
taken of the coming together of the people, to raise money. 
The object may be the very best, but that does not cover 
with morality a transaction which is wrong in itself. There 
are rights in such cases which all conscientious Christians 
are bound to respect. It is grossly inconsistent, as well as 
wrong, for men who oppose organizations and who refuse 
to submit to authority, to take advantage of these organiza¬ 
tions to promote their own selfish objects. Christians should 
imitate Christ in their freedom from guile. 

35 CHARACTER AND REPUTATION 

The armor of righteousness can not keep us from being 
shot at, but it can keep us from being wounded. Job’s 
friends, sincere but mistaken, endeavored to convict him 
of secret wickedness, but in due time God appeared for 
his vindication. Men may injure our reputation for a sea¬ 
son, but they can not injure our character. What we are 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


21 


depends only upon ourselves and God; what is said about 
us depends upon the disposition of others. Over the latter 
we have no control; over the former our control, under God, 
is absolute. It is ours to be right and to do right; it is 
God’s to take care of the results. Sensitiveness is a symptom 
both of pride and unbelief. He who is conscious of in¬ 
tegrity, confident of divine protection, has nothing to fear. 
“Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust also in him; and he 
shall bring it to pass. And he shall bring forth thy right¬ 
eousness as the light, and thy judgment as the noonday” 
(Ps. 37:5, 6). 

36 CHILDREN: Labor for Conversion of 

Some years ago we assisted Brother Phillips and others 
in a camp-meeting at Boyden, in northwestern Iowa. The 
meeting was remarkable for the large number of children 
who were clearly and powerfully converted. As we pass 
through the place we are pleased to see one of the boys 
who was then converted, now a young man of promise, come 
on the train on his way to conference to take work. 

Those who place a light estimate on the conversion of 
children make a great mistake. The best orchards are com¬ 
posed of trees which were grafted when small. The men of 
whose deep and abiding piety, and consequent usefulness, 
honorable mention is made in the Bible, began to lead a life 
of piety in early youth. Look over the list. We give one 
or two: Moses was brought up in the court of Pharaoh, 
and was skilled in all the learning of the Egyptians; but 
there is no mention made of his having practised their vices. 
Joseph, while a mere lad, lived so close to God that prophetic 
revelations were made to him. He,- too, as Moses had done, 
successfully resisted all the enervating and worldly in¬ 
fluences of an idolatrous court. 

Those converted young may not make as great a sen¬ 
sation at the start as those who have turned from vicious 
courses to the service of God, but they, as a rule, hold out 
longer and lead more useful lives. Let us labor more 
earnestly, steadily and prayerfully for the conversion of the 
children. 


22 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


37 CHILDREN, Take Your, to Camp-meeting 

The camp-meeting season is upon us. If consistent, by 
all means attend. Go with a tent, and take as many of 
your family with you as possible. Do not leave the un¬ 
converted children at home. Take them with you, and make 
a special effort for their salvation. Do not be so much in¬ 
terested in others that you do not feel, and manifest, a deep 
interest for your children. Their eternal salvation depends 
upon their being converted to God. The longer they re¬ 
main unconverted, the greater is the probability that they 
will never be converted. Now is the accepted time. Do all 
you can to ha*ve this day the day of their salvation. They 
may do much good by being converted to God. Be impor¬ 
tunate in your prayers; faithful in your effort for their 
salvation. 

38 CHILDREN? Where are Your 

One of our liveliest, most earnest members in a church 
of which we were pastor, was a man past middle life. He 
had grown up wicked, and had been miraculously converted 
after his younger children were of an age to attend Sun¬ 
day-school. We urged him to bring them, but he never 
would. He said, “I don’t want my boys brought up formal¬ 
ists; I want them to know when they are converted.” Be¬ 
fore we left the charge, one Sunday, while the parents were 
at church, one of the older boys had an eye knocked out, 
and another one had his arm broken in a bar-room fight 
in a country tavern! We learned that some of these boys 
afterwards went to State’s prison, but we never heard that 
one of them was ever converted. 

Brother, do you take your children with you to church 
regularly? Do you see that they are not serving Satan 
while you are serving God? 

39 CHILDREN, Modesty in Dress of 

As long as parents are responsible for their children 
they should control their children. They should conse¬ 
crate them to the Lord, and train them up for the Lord. 
In dressing them they should conform to the rules which 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


23 


God has laid down in his Word. They should explain to 
them that they do it to please the Lord. The minds of 
children should be directed to something nobler than the 
vanities of dress. Children may learn at an early age 
that the favor of the Lord is more to them than the admi¬ 
ration of the world. But measured even by the low standard 
of taste, a child is never so beautiful as when dressed with 
simplicity. Modesty and humility are more precious orna¬ 
ments than any which can be purchased at Vanity Fair. 
Teach your child to prize these above all price. If God 
has opened your eyes to see that you must dress plain, then, 
if you have children, dress them plain. Do not put orna¬ 
ments on them which you can not wear. Relatives or 
friends should not be permitted to dress them up in fash¬ 
ionable attire, any more than they would be permitted 
to send them to a dancing school. Dress then in a neat, 
comfortable, plain manner. If you dress them up when 
they are small, they will dress you up when they are big. 
Many a woman who dressed plain when young, and when 
her children were small, and who led a godly life, has al¬ 
lowed her fashionable children to dress her up like the 
world, and has lost her religious experience, and become 
a mere dead, formal professor, in danger of damnation. 
If you allow yourself to become one of this world, you will 
share the fate of worldlings. You compromise in re¬ 
ligious matters with your children at great peril to your¬ 
self and to their souls. Pride shuts those whom it governs 
out of Heaven. Therefore shun it if you would shun hell. 

40 CHILDREN Should be Taught to Work 

A great injury is done to children by bringing them up 
without teaching them how to work. It may be easier 
for you to do a piece of work than to teach your child 
how to do it, but when the child is old enough to learn, it 
has the right to learn, and you should take the pains to teach 
it. Bring up your children from an early age to wait on you 
and help you, instead of making yourself a slave to them. 
If you have a cow and have boys and girls, have every 
one of them learn to milk, and teach the boys how to 


24 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


take care of a cow. They may some day own one them¬ 
selves. If we hire others to do work, especially ordinary 
farm work, it helps very much towards having it done 
properly, for us to know how to do it ourselves. One of 
the best things that can be done for a boy from fifteen to 
twenty years of age, is to have him work out by the month, 
one season at least, with a good Christian farmer. It will 
be worth more to him than a year at school. The habit 
of applying himself to work all day long will be of in¬ 
calculable benefit to him in after life. That was a wise 
father who, when asked what he was going to do for his 
daughter, who had just graduated with all the accom¬ 
plishments the schools could give, replied, “I am going to 
apprentice her to her mother, to learn how to take care of a 
house and family.” 

A boy that has been good to his mother will be good to 
his wife. A girl that has steadily helped to bear her moth¬ 
er’s burdens will find her own more easily borne, from the 
discipline she has acquired. 

41 CHRIST, All in All 

Christ is God. “They shall call his name Emmanuel, 
which being interpreted is, God with us.” There has always 
been a longing in men for a manifestation of God among 
them. To this feeling, idolatry owes its. origin and preva¬ 
lence. In Christ we have God manifest in the flesh (1 Tim. 
3:16). Granted that it is a mystery; we are surrounded by 
mysteries—the human mind loves mysteries. When it can 
not find them it strives to make them. But he meets all the 
longings of our hearts. 

“Thou, O Christ, art all I want.” 

There is no longer any demand for sacred animals, or for 
idolatrous images. He who has found Christ will not seek 
further. He is happy and contented. He has a present help 
in every time of need; one whose resources and whose power 
never fail. To every soul in which he dwells, Christ is 
King of kings and Lord of lords. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


25 


42 CHRIST, Spirit of, Essential 

These words of Paul are of universal application: “Now 
if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of 
his” (Rom. 8:9). Here is no chance for a single exception. 
Let each of us ask himself: “Have 1 the Spirit of Christ?” 
I am not so much concerned about others as I am about my¬ 
self. If all others are wrong, that will not save me. My 
prospects are not improved by the shortcomings of my 
brethren. Their failures to reach Heaven will not take me 
there. I may be v6ry zealous for truth, but have I the 
spirit of truth? I may be a strict observer of Christian 
forms, but am I a new creature? Is the prayer offered and 
answered— 

“Jesus, plant and root in me 
All the mind that was in thee, 

Settled peace I then shall find; 

Jesus’ is a constant mind”? 

“For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any 
thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by 
love” (Gal. 5:6). 

43 CHRIST’S MESSENGER Must Have Courage 

The messenger of Christ must he a man of courage. The 
coward will compromise. He will keep back part of the 
truth. The fear of giving offense will take the edge from 
his sword. If he is true to God, he can but arouse against 
him the active hostility of the enemies of God, as well in 
the church as in the world. Paul, the most divinely prudent 
of men, did; John Wesley did; Jonathan Edwards did. 
Charles G. Finney met with the most decided opposition, 
even in his own church. He who will be faithful to the 
truth has need to pray: 

“Steel me to shame, reproach, disgrace, 

Arm me with all thine armor now; 

Set like a flint my steady face, 

Harden to adamant my brow.” 

0 

Eternal life is not won without a struggle. The world 
is not overcome without a conflict. Souls are not rescued 


26 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


from the grasp of the destroyer without the most de¬ 
termined effort. 

Buckle on your armor; whet your swords; fight the good 
fight of faith. 

44 CHRIST'S YOKE 

Christ says, “My yoke is easy,” but he does not say that 
it is an easy, trifling matter to take it upon us. Quite the 
contrary. His words are, “So likewise whosoever he be of 
you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my 
disciple” (Luke 14:33). This modern, easy way of getting 
people converted, without repentance, without renouncing 
the world, by substituting presumption for faith, is but 
blinding them to their true condition, and leading them down 
to eternal death. A popular evangelist is reported to have 
converted two hundred in a single evening. “And it was 
done so quietly and with such propriety!” Lookers-on did 
not say, “These men are full of new wine.” There w r as no 
known confession of sin, no restitution, no crying unto God 
with the voice. To the simple, and those quite meaningless 
questions, “Do you accept Christ?” they answered “Yes,” or 
assented by nodding the head, and that was pretty much 
all there was to it! 

And it is quite as easy a matter to live this kind of 
religion as it is to get it. Bishop Hurst of the M. E. church 
is reported to have said in a recent dedication sermon, 
“Where there is such timidity, diffidence, hesitation, or 
where extempore prayer is not considered just the thing 
that one is free to offer in his family, I do not see why one 
can not have domestic prayers by reading just a passage of 
Scripture and just reciting the Lord’s Prayer.” Is not this 
“Religion made easy”? Reader, Christ says, “Strive to en¬ 
ter in at the strait gate: for many, I say unto you, will 
seek to enter in, and shall not be able.” 

45 CHRISTIAN, A, Must Be Both Firm and Yielding 

While a Christian must be inflexible in principle, he 
must be yielding in methods, as far as is consistent wuth 
principle. He must be firm but not obstinate, independent 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


27 


in his judgment but not self-willed. It is blessed to learn 
how to yield gracefully in things indifferent, even when 
we are satisfied that our way is best. One who must al¬ 
ways have his own way will make trouble in a church. No 
matter how many good qualities he may possess, he will in 
the end do more hurt than good. 

46 CHRISTIANS, All, Working Christians 

We have an intense dislike for all those arrangements, 
becoming so popular, by which a portion only of the church 
is put into active service for the salvation of souls. They 
are unscriptural, and anti-Christian. They assume that one 
can be a Christian and yet not be a working Christian; 
that one can be on his way to Heaven and yet not be putting 
forth Christian endeavors for the benefit of his fellow men. 

Christ speaks in no ambiguous terms on this point. He 
declares: “He that is not with me is against me; and he 
that gathereth not with me scattereth abroad” (Matt. 12: 
30). This does not look as if Christ expected that a single 
one of his disciples would be indifferent in the great work 
of the salvation of souls. 

Every member of a Christian church should be engaged 
in earnest efforts to rescue the perishing. In the cause of 
Christ indifference is hostility, and lukewarmness is a 
damning sin. 

47 CHRISTIANS, Consistent 

People who will not dress like Christians have no right 
to call themselves Christians^ It is true the dress does not 
make the Christian, any more than the feathers make the 
bird. The inner will clothe itself in appropriate outward 
forms. A humble person never has the appearance of a 
proud one, although a proud person may, for selfish pur¬ 
poses, put on an appearance of humility. 

Bishop Morris, one of the godly bishops of the M. E. 
church of the last generation, says that such things as 
these can not be for any purpose but to gratify vanity— 
“a gold ring on the finger, or hung to the ear; a gold 
breastpin, or guard-chain; a gold-headed staff; an artificial 


28 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


flower on the bonnet; a string of gold beads hung around 
the neck; a large bunch of some dead person’s hair hung 
on the side of the face. How unsuitable, trifling and sin¬ 
ful it is for persons to indulge in them, who, as disciples 
of Christ, should be dead to the world, always bearing about 
in their bodies the dying of the Lord Jesus; not conformed 
to the world, but glorying in the cross of Christ; and more 
especially our Methodist brethren and sisters, who have 
been better instructed on the subject. They offend with 
their eyes open, knowing that God forbids the wearing of 
gold and costly array, as plainly as he forbids any sin.” 

48 CHRISTIANS Are Citizens 

In becoming Christians we do not cease to be citizens. 
We are still members of the civil community, entitled to its 
protection and under obligations to do our part toward 
its support. While we should avoid a litigious spirit, yet 
it is proper for us, when the emergency requires it, to claim 
the protection of the civil power. Paul appealed from 
the persecuting priests of the church to Caesar. 

49 CHRISTIANS Must Respect the Rights of Others 

The gospel makes us respect the rights of all mankind. 
We can not be Christians and make it our business to look 
out for ourselves alone. We must take some interest in 
the welfare of those around us. “Look not every man on 
his own things, but eyery man also on the things of 
others.” Pay a proper regard to their interests, their con¬ 
venience, and their feelings. One objection, among the 
many, to the smoking habit is, that it makes its votaries 
so forgetful of the claims of others. In a public place, 
where pure air can be had, every person has the right 
to have it. Yet smokers do not hesitate to smoke in the 
streets and parks, and even in the sleeping cars! We have 
been so annoyed with the latter, that when obliged to take 
a sleeping car, we ask for one that is not also a smoking 
car. On our last trip we were given one. In the morning 
we had the gratification of getting up without a headache, 
as we do not when compelled to go to sleep amid the fumes 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


29 


of tobacco smoke. If men will undermine their own con¬ 
stitutions and annoy others by this vile habit, we say, as 
Daniel Webster is reported to have said, “If these men 
must smoke, let them take the horse shed.” 

50 CHRISTIANS Should Read and Inform Themselves 

Some professing Christians do not seem to care to 
learn. They live on excitement. They have but little 
relish for sermons that explain the Scriptures, and set 
forth clearly the doctrines which God would have us be¬ 
lieve, and the duties he would have us perform. Articles 
in periodicals which afford instruction, and which require 
some attention to get their full meaning, they either do 
not read at all or pass over so hastily as not to be able, 
when through, to tell what they are about. Such people 
do not make useful, permanent Christians. They may make 
a great ado for a time, but they soon die. In a long-con¬ 
tinued battle they can not be depended on; but, like some of 
Stanley’s men recently in Africa, they run away and proclaim 
that their leader is dead. 

They will mourn at last “and say, How have I hated 
instruction, and my heart despised reproof; and have not 
obeyed the voice of my teachers, nor inclined mine ear to 
them that instructed me!” (Prov. 5:12, 13). 

51 CHRISTIANS Should Study 

In olden time God complained, “My people are destroyed 
for lack of knowledge.” This is still the case. Multitudes 
are led astray because they have not the understanding they 
should have in the things of God. “The fear of the Lord 
is the beginning of knowledge; but fools despise wisdom and 
instruction’*’ (Prov. 1:7). Let the most ignorant person 
become truly converted to Christ, and he will at once feel 
an inward yearning for knowledge. He who settles down 
content with knowing little or nothing of the ways and 
works of God, gives, by such an act, the clearest evidence 
that he has no saving knowledge of God. A house not only 
needs inhabitants, it also needs furniture. If God dwells 
in us, we must furnish the temple with knowledge, as well 


30 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


as with other good things (2 Pet. 1:5). Do the best we 
can, we shall still be ignorant of many things it is desirable 
to know. But we may make daily advancement in the 
knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, if we will. 

52 CHRISTIAN CHARACTER, Building 

It is by insensible additions made from sources outside 
of itself that a tree grows. It picks up particles from the 
air through its leaves, and from the soil through its root¬ 
lets, and by the wonderful power of life transforms them into 
its own substance and makes them a part of itself. It is 
much the same way that Christian character is built up. 
From the reproofs that he gets, the trials with which he 
meets, a live Christian learns to correct something in his 
spirit, or in his manner, and so grows strong. He derives 
profit from each undeserved reproof. He who always puts 
himself in an attitude of defense, and indignantly repels 
every intimation that he might possibly be better or do 
better, shows that he has too much of the life of self and 
too little of Divine life. To bear reproof and profit by it 
is one mark of a true Christian. 

53 CHRISTIAN COURAGE 

A Christian often needs higher courage than a soldier. 
Some who can face ramparts bristling with cannon, can not 
face ridicule. It is much easier for many a man to be a 
soldier than to be singular for Christ’s sake. To stand 
committed to the truth in the presence of its enemies, to 
hold up the doctrine of the cross among worldly, com¬ 
promising, unscrupulous members of the professed church 
of Christ, demands a valor that veteran soldiers seldom 
possess. Said George of Freundsberg, a valiant captain, a 
commandant of the Emperor’s guard, to Luther, as he saw 
him boldly enter Worms, a city filled with Luther’s mortal 
enemies: “Little monk, this is a daring step thou art go¬ 
ing to take! Nor I, nor any captain of us, ever did the 
like. If thy cause is good, and if thou have faith in thy 
cause, forward! Little monk, in God’s name, forward!” 
Luther had faith in his cause, and went forward. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


31 


54 CHRISTIAN COURTESY 

A Christian is always known. Those present may never have 
seen him or heard of him before; but he can not be long in 
their company without their finding out who he is. They 
may not know his name, or his residence, but they will gen¬ 
erally conclude that he is a Christian. There is something 
in the plainness of his dress and the quiet simplicity of his 
manners that attracts attention. He does not manifest 
in little things a selfish spirit. He is considerate of others. 
He is careful to respect their rights. If any one needs 
assistance he is ready to give it. On every fitting occasion 
he is ready to express his opinion, but is never obtrusive. 
It may be apparent to all that he is “unlearned and igno¬ 
rant’’ ; but they will “take knowledge of him that he has 
been with Jesus.” Those who think that a Christian need 
not be a person of good manners; that, in order to be free 
from pride, he must be boorish and uncivil, would do well 
to ponder the exhortation of the apostle, “Be courteous.” 
(See 1 Peter 3:8). This term “courteous” is used to ex¬ 
press the noble bearing of those who compose the court, or 
the social circle, of the king. These are understood to be 
the most polite, well-bred, obliging people in the world. 
You may not equal them in the outward graces of ex¬ 
pression ; but you should greatly exceed them in true kind¬ 
ness of heart, of which good manners are only an imitation. 
What with them is an outside appearance, should be with 
you an inward reality. 

55 CHRISTIAN FERVOR, Awakening 

People out in the cold often do not know how cold they 
are till they come in to a fire. So a Christian living in a 
community where coldness and formality prevail, does not 
realize his own condition till he gets among those whose af¬ 
fections are warm for Christ and his disciples. Their fervor 
contrasts strangely with his coldness, and he sees what he 
has lost. If he is honest he will confess how he has drifted, 
and seek again the joy of salvation. If he allows pride and 
self-conceit to gain the mastery, he will resist conviction 
and endeavor to reason himself into the belief that those with 


32 


PUNGENT TRUTPIS 


whom he once had fellowship are too strait and perhaps fa¬ 
natical. This is a dangerous state. One in this condition 
is apt to sink lower, until the light that was in him becomes 
darkness. When this takes place, how great is that 
darkness! 

56 CHRISTIAN INTEGRITY Must be Retained 

When one parts with his integrity, he virtually sells his 
soul. No earthly advantage can be a sufficient compen¬ 
sation. James II. of England gave to his son this last ad¬ 
vice: “I am about to leave this world, which has been to me 
nothing but a sea of tempests and storms. The Omnipotent 
has thought right to visit me with great afflictions; serve 
him with all your heart, and never place the crown of 
England in the balance with your eternal salvation.” 

What must be the remorse in the dying hour, and to all 
eternity, of those who bartered their salvation—not for a 
crown, but for fleshly indulgence, for the varieties of dress, 
for the deceitfulness of riches, or the fleeting, unsatisfying 
honors which these mortals can give? 

57 CHRISTIAN PRINCIPLE the Foundation of Christian Character 

Genuine Christian principle lies at the foundation of 
true Christian character. He who lacks obedience to God, 
whatever else he may possess, can not possibly be a real 
disciple of Christ. If he knows he is not, and yet professes 
to be, he is a hypocrite; if he does not know it, he is de¬ 
ceived. The Savior gives us ample warning on this point. 
“Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter 
into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my 
Father which is in heaven.” The Savior does not here dis¬ 
card faith, but rather he shows us the nature of saving 
faith. It is not of purely a speculative character. It does 
not consist mainly in consent to creed; nor does it manifest 
itself mostly in confident assertions of our own safety, and 
in violent denunciations of those who differ from us. It 
prompts us to humble, patient, conscientious obedience to all 
of God’s commands. He who is living in plain violation of 
a single one of God’s commands, can not atone for such 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


33 


disobedience by any degree of zeal for other requirements, 
nor by any amount of contributions for the enterprises of 
the church. One who habitually neglects what he knows to 
be a duty which he owes to God ought to dismiss all hope 
of Heaven, though he be a prominent professor or an emi¬ 
nent minister. A religion that will take us through to 
Heaven consists in something more than reciting creeds and 
singing hymns and saying prayers.* It will bring us into 
harmony with God and obedience to his commands. 

58 CHRISTIAN PROFESSION: Start Right 

It has become a popular thing to belong to a church. 
In many instances it secures admission to better society. 
It helps in business. So, where one joins a church from 
religious convictions, because he believes its doctrines, and is 
in hearty sympathy with its measures, it is to be feared that 
many join for the sake of the social and secular advantages 
which they hope to realize by so doing. Such motives show 
the utter worthlessness of the Christian profession which 
those make who yield to them. Even when Christ was 
here in the flesh, he said to many who sought him, “Verily, 
verily, I say unto you, ye seek me, not because ye saw 
the miracles, but because ye did eat of the loaves and were 
filled. Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for 
that meat which endureth unto everlasting life” (John 
6:26, 27). Selfish motives spoil commendable acts. 

We are in the days spoken of by the prophet Isaiah 
(Ch. 4:1). There is no doubt but that this chapter re¬ 
fers to the gospel dispensation. “And in that day seven 
women shall take hold of one man, saying, We will eat our 
own bread, and wear our own apparel: only let us be called 
by thy name, to take away our reproach.” The word 
“woman,” in prophetic language, stands for “church.” The 
number “seven” denotes the completeness, or the whole. By 
“one man” is meant the man Jesus Christ. So the mean¬ 
ing of this verse is, that in the corrupt days of Chris¬ 
tianity, the several religious associations will take the 
name of Christ, in order to be respectable—to take away 
their reproach—but will make their own conditions, will 


34 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


dress like the world and live like the world; will eat their 
own bread and wear their own apparel. 

Do not be of this class. If you take the name of Christ, 
eat the bread which he furnishes; embrace his doctrines; 
seek to comprehend them, and get the strength which they 
impart. Live as he directs. Wear his apparel. Dress 
plain. Be not comformed to this world. Avoid all jewelry, 
all expensive and fashionable attire, and dress plainly and 
economically. 

Men may fail of success in business, without any fault 
of their own. But if you fail of becoming a real Chris¬ 
tian, no one else will be to blame. The failures of others 
can not cause you to fail, unless you will let them. Whether 
any one else goes through or not, you may become soundly 
converted to God, if you will. The kingdom of Heaven 
is opened before you, and you are cordially invited to 
enter. No man has the power to shut you out. Everything 
depends upon the decision you make and the action you 
take. Your destiny is placed in your own hands. God calls 
on you to decide. Do not stop with any half-way measures. 
Make thorough work. Commit yourself in the most public 
and in the most positive manner. Give yourself wholly to 
God. Pray in the name of Jesus, until you get the evi¬ 
dence, as clear as a sunbeam, that your sins are forgiven, 
and that you are a child of God. 

59 CHRISTIANITY AND ANTI-CHRISTIANITY 

False Christianity very readily unites with anti-Chris¬ 
tianity. Nothing on earth is more liberal than sin; nothing 
more intolerant than true holiness. Light has no affinity 
for darkness. Everywhere it is its active opponent. Sin 
and holiness never make a truce; much less a peace. The 
conflict between them never ends, except in the death of one 
or of the other. Wherever the two exist, there will be all 
the commotion incident to a state of active hostility. What 
is called peace between the church and the world is ac¬ 
tually a surrender of the church to the world. Some kings 
when in captivity have fared more sumptuously than they 
did when free and enduring the privations of the camp 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


35 


and the dangers of the battlefield. So the church, led 
captive by the world, may flaunt in its fineries, dance to its 
music and feast upon its delicacies; but its fine apparel 
is that of a victim doomed to slaughter, and its dance is 
the dance of eternal death. 

Though fetters are of gold, spurn to wear them; though 
your prison-house may be a palace, choose God’s broad 
canopy as your covering in preference. “Stand fast there¬ 
fore in the liberty wherewith Christ hath made us free, 
and be not entangled again with the yoke of bondage .” 

60 CHRISTMAS SPIRIT 

The best way to celebrate the coming of the Prince of 
Peace is to have, as far as we are concerned, peace on 
earth and good will to men. Have others wronged us? 
We should forgive them. Have any persons any com¬ 
plaints against us? We should be kind and conciliatory, 
ready to make any concessions and do all on out part to 
bring about a good feeling. Envy, jealousy and animosity 
form no part of the Christian character. The kingdom of 
God is a kingdom of love. Where Christ reigns friendship 
and brotherly kindness prevail. If you want Christ to come 
into your heart you must cast out of it all unkind feelings 
towards others. You can not love God without loving 
your brother. 

61 CHRISTMAS GIFTS 

It is customary to wish our friends a “Merry Christmas.” 
We do not exactly like the word “merry” in this connection; 
but we wish our readers all that is meant by it in its best 
sense. The Apostle James couples the word merry with 
singing psalms (Jas. 5:13). This kind of merriment does 
not degenerate into levity. It does not grieve the Spirit. 

If you would have a pleasant Christmas, your pleasure 
will come more from what you do for others than from 
what others do for you. “It is more blessed to give than 
to receive.” Try and make others happy all the way through 
life, so that, as you look back, you can say, 


36 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


“The thought of our past years, in me doth breed 
Perpetual benediction.” 

Christ loved us, and gave himself for us; and he would 
have us manifest our love for him by doing good to others. 

62 CHURCH of Jesus Christ 

“Dedication of a church?” You are mistaken. It is not 
the shape, nor the magnificence, nor the cost of an edifice 
that constitutes it a church of Jesus Christ. A very church- 
ly-looking building near us is, we are told, devoted exclu¬ 
sively to the uses of Masonic lodges! 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is preached to the poor. An 
edifice from which the poor are excluded by selling or rent¬ 
ing the seats, and by the aristocratic and exclusive air with 
which it is pervaded; an edifice in which the nature and the 
conditions of the salvation offered by Jesus Christ are not 
laid down and insisted upon; in which the hymns are sung 
by a godless choir, and the acts of worship generally are 
performed by proxy; an edifice in which a kitchen and 
parlors are provided to allure those “whose god is their 
belly,” is not a church of Jesus Christ. Those who help to 
support it, thinking it is, are grossly deceived. It is a 
temple of Mammon! 

63 CHURCH and Riches 

The professed church of Jesus Christ is rapidly passing 
from the dispensation of the Holy Ghost into the dis¬ 
pensation of worldly riches. “I thank God,” we heard a 
doctor of divinity say in a sermon, “the time has come 
when men’s piety is not estimated by what they profess, 
but by what they give.” No matter how they got their 
riches. He had nothing to say about that. It may have 
been acquired by stock gambling, by the brewing business, 
by wholesale liquor-selling; but if they only gave liberally 
to the institutions of the church, their liberality must be 
praised and their piety must not be called in question! 
Hear the word of the Lord, “Go to now, ye rich men, 
weep and howl for your miseries that shall come upon 
you. Your riches are corrupted, and your garments are 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


37 


motheaten. Your gold and silver is cankered; and the 
rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat 
your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure to¬ 
gether for the last days. Ye have lived in pleasure on 
the earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, 
as in a day of slaughter” (Jas. 5:1, 2, 3, 5). 

64 CHURCH Must Have Life 

An animal may be ever so noble, but it is of little worth 
unless it has life. If it is entirely dead, it is good for 
nothing but to be consumed. “A living dog is better than 
a dead lion.” An organization may be ever so perfect, 
but unless life is put into it, no good will be effected by it. 
We believe most firmly in free churches. Every seat in 
every Christian church should be free for any who wish 
to come there to worship God. To sell or rent pews in a 
house dedicated to the worship of God is contrary to the 
letter and the spirit of the New Testament. Yet live 
people in a pewed church, if such a thing is possible, will 
do more good than dead folks in a free-seated church. 
Our dependence must be, not in any system, or rules, or 
organizations, but in the living God. Our organization is 
a good one, but we must be alive to make it efficient. What 
we need, above all things else, is that which Christ came 
to impart, life more abundantly. 

65 CHURCH Progresses by Power 

The Free Methodist church progresses, not by popularity, 
but by power. Where the preacher and the people seek to 
make it popular, by conforming to the ways of worldly 
churches, they soon run out. But where they plant them¬ 
selves firmly and fully on the Bible platform, and are care¬ 
ful to maintain holy living, and keep among them Holy 
Ghost power, they make steady progress. All the churches 
around may combine against them; but God stands by 
them, and sinners are convicted and converted, and the 
work moves on in the face of prejudices that seem well-nigh 
insurmountable. 

This is as it Should be. There are enough proud, formal, 


38 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


dead churches already. If we can not be unlike them in 
these respects, we had better not be at all. God has called 
us out to be a plain, pious, peculiar people. Let us obey 
the call. 

66 CHURCH MEMBERSHIP Should Not Be Sought for Secular Ends 

No Christian should belong to a religious denomination 
unless he conscientiously believes in the doctrines it teaches 
and the principles it upholds. A lack of sincerity certainly 
evidences a lack of saving grace. He who is in a church 
for the opportunities which it affords to promote his own 
secular interests, or his ambitious schemes, greatly deceives 
himself if he thinks he is in a state of salvation. Christ 
demands honesty of all his disciples. 

Dr. Stephen Olin, one of the greatest, largest-hearted 
men ever connected with the M. E. church, says: “He is the 
best Methodist, and, being a Methodist, I think the best 
Christian, who respects and follows fully our appointed 
methods of getting and doing good. He attends upon the 
public and the more private and social means of grace 
punctually and conscientiously. He is ever at his class, at 
the prayer-meeting and the love-feast. He approves of—he 
sustains the institutions, and forms and usages of his own 
church, very little concerned if it should so happen that 
others do not altogether like them. 

“If denominational attachments should be strong, sec¬ 
tarian prejudices can not be too weak or too few; and I 
should rejoice to know that never a word is said in this 
or any other Methodist pulpit to excite or strengthen them.” 

67 CHURCH, Urge Converts to Join 

If souls are converted under your labors, open the 
door of the church and invite them to join. Do not 
wait to see whether they will hold out. Help them to 
hold out. The younger a child, the more it needs its 
mother. If people ever need to be within the protect¬ 
ing bulwarks of the church, it is when they have just 
started in the service of Christ. Satan is after them with 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


39 


all his arts, and all his malignity. Their old companions 
in sin will seek to draw them back. 

If any show a hesitancy about joining the church, 
visit them at their homes; give them a personal invitation; 
talk with them freely; let them know they will be wel¬ 
come; and remove any objections they may offer. Do 
not be afraid to proselyte your own converts. You may 
rest assured that preachers of other denominations will 
have no such scruples. They will go eagerly after any 
that would be likely to add strength to their church. Young 
converts, full of love and zeal, are often drawn into dead 
churches by being told how much their “help is needed,’’ 
and how much good “you can do among us,’’ and “how 
much we need your influence to wake us up.” 

It would not be so serious a matter were it not gen¬ 
erally the case that after they have joined a popular 
church, skilful and successful attempts are made to dampen 
their ardor, and blunt their consciences, and draw them 
into a sinful conformity to the world. They take up with 
the shadow, and neglect the substance; they settle down in 
the form, and deny the power. Many promising converts 
are killed in this way. Do not neglect to baptize your con¬ 
verts. Lead them forward to' take upon them the full 
responsibility of the Christian profession. Make it as 
hard as you can for them to backslide. Throw around 
them every possible protection against the assaults of the 
world. Get them to go over fully on the Lord’s side. 


68 CHURCHES. No Fellowship with Fashionable 

Lot kept his religion in Sodom. How did he do it? “He 
vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their un¬ 
lawful deeds.” He did not compromise. He did not fall 
in with any of their bad practises. He did not adopt their 
modes of worship nor unite in their services. 

If we would keep saved in the midst of fashionable 
churches, we must adopt a similar course. We must have 
no fellowship nor communion with them. However splen¬ 
did the displays they make, our prayer must be, “Turn 


40 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


away mine eyes from beholding vanity; and quicken thou 
me in thy way.” We shall soon learn to relish what we 
view with admiration. The taste easily becomes perverted. 
We must condemn what we know to be wrong, or we shall 
soon get into such moral darkness that we shall not see 
that it is wrong. Joseph Cook says, ‘‘The churches of the 
present day care more for the flowers before the pulpit 
than for the sound doctrine within it. The love of right 
is the hatred of wrong. The new light believes in love, not 
conscience, and makes out the God of the Hebrew Scrip¬ 
ture a tyrant. As the majesty of the pulpit is lowered 
by giving up Divine sovereignty, so its tenderness is lost 
by giving up the atonement of Christ. The expression, ‘tfle 
atonement overworked,’ strikes the funeral knell of the pul¬ 
pit. Little by little, laymen are giving up the Old Testa¬ 
ment, the writings of the apostles, and even saying that 
Christ was sometimes wrong, and did not know as much 
as his German critics.” 

69 CHURCH, The, and the World 

The church is in a fair way to be completely captured 
by the world. The distinction between the two is rapidly 
becoming obliterated. The 'Presbyterian says: 

‘‘A quarter of a century ago, and more, Dr. James W. 
Alexander wrote with great decision of influences then at 
work. He said: ‘The door at which those influences enter 
which countervail parental instruction and example, I am 
persuaded is yielding to the ways of good society. By dress, 
books and amusements, an atmosphere is formed which is 
not that of Christianity. More than ever do I feel that our 
families must stand in a kind but determined opposition to 
the fashions of the world, breasting the waves like the 
Eddystone lighthouse. And I have found nothing yet which 
requires more courage and independence than to rise a little, 
but decidedly, above the par of the religious world around 
us.’ If this was true in his day it must be acknowledged to 
be more undeniably and sadly true in our own time. The 
incursions of alien influences and customs upon the sacred 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


41 


territory of the church has been steadily growing more 
marked, perhaps because less earnestly resisted.” 

We must keep an atmosphere of godliness in all our 
families. If you dress your children like the world, and 
send them to worldly Sunday-schools, you must expect that 
they will grow up to be worldlings. Let us come out and 
be separate. 

70 CHURCH ENTERTAINMENTS 

It is Christlike to feed the hungry. On two occasions 
Christ performed a great miracle to give food to the famish¬ 
ing. He tells us that it is one of the fruits of a genuine 
piety that will be inquired into on the judgment day. But 
kitchens are not built in fashionable churches to feed the 
hungry. By no means. Those who are starving do not go 
there for relief. These church kitchens are built to afford 
entertainment for those who live in good houses and have 
plenty to eat at home. There is an instinctive feeling that 
people who go to church should be made stronger to re¬ 
sist evil and do good. But the fashionable pulpit deals out 
no meat for hungry souls. Even the little sweetened milk 
it passes around is so diluted that it is loathsome to the 
healthy taste. To feed babes with, it is no better than a 
mixture of chalk and sugar and water. So, as the spiritual 
nature is starved, an interest is kept up in the church by 
catering to the animal nature. The oysters that float in a 
bowl of church soup may be few. but they are genuine. They 
are not paper imitations. The church, in the kitchen, lays 
aside shams, and deals in realities. It is true her 
realities are not of a very elevating character, but 
they are not as debasing, after all, as hypocrisy and 
deceit. To eat delicacies which they like does not demoralize 
people as much as joining in devotions which they feel in 
their heart are all a mockery. Hence the kitchen in the 
fashionable church is becoming popular. If the class-meet¬ 
ing is neglected, the night is made up in the large attend¬ 
ance upon church frolics. If a pastor fail as a revivalist, he 
succeeds as a caterer. But it is too bad that such stuff 


42 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


should be palmed off upon the credulous as Christianity! 
It is a partial relapse to heathenism! 

71 CHURCH ORGANIZATION 

There is a perfect harmony between nature and rev¬ 
elation. They teach us in different modes the law of the 
one God. They illustrate each other. Neither nature nor 
revelation preaches the gospel of anarchy. Wherever you 
find life in nature, you find organization. The lowest form 
of either vegetable or animal life has its organs, each of 
which has its appropriate functions to perform. Useful 
animals and fowls go in herds and flocks; while beasts and 
birds of prey roam about alone and independent. In New 
Testament times, when a Christian could not find a church 
outside, he established one in his own house. Belong to 
the church he must. The early saints were not so afraid of 
sectarianism that each of them must form a sect by him¬ 
self. They were knit together in love. So close was the 
union that “when one member suffered all the members 
suffered with it.” If you are a Christian then, do not be 
afraid of the church. Find a branch of it to which you 
belong and unite with it, if you have to go a thousand 
miles for the purpose. 

72 CHURCH OFFICERS Should be of Humble Spirit 

Even in apostolic times, when the gospel was taught in 
its simplicity, and no worldly considerations led men to 
seek office in the church, it was difficult to obtain good 
officers. “Let the elders that rule well be counted worthy 
of double honour” (1 Tim. 5:17). This implies that but 
few of the elders ruled well. Some, doubtless, were incom¬ 
petent, some were prejudiced, some lacked discernment, some 
were wanting in practical wisdom. The same defects, with 
others added, exist to-day in the men who are called to con¬ 
trol the affairs of the church. It requires a good degree 
of grace in those to whom government is entrusted in the 
church, to exercise their authority, “not as being lords 
over God’s heritage, but being ensamples to the flock.” 
But it requires still more grace in many persons to submit 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


43 


to the proper exercises of lawful authority. There is a 
spirit of insubordination abroad, which, subtle as the air, 
penetrates everywhere. It is manifested in the family, in 
the school, in the state, and in the church. Liberty de¬ 
generates into lawlessness. Where there is a lack of a spirit 
of submission, there is a lack of saving grace. A disciple 
of Christ is a person who has learned obedience. 

73 CHURCH, Governing Power in 

Even the apostles could not attend to everything. They 
needed assistants to look after temporal matters. If they 
had looked upon the ministry as the governing power in 
the church, they would themselves have appointed these 
assistants. But they did nothing of the kind. They laid 
the subject before “the multitude of the disciples.” The 
disciples evidently did not think that they must adopt the 
plan because the apostles had proposed it. For it is written, 
“And the saying pleased the whole multitude.” And they— 
the whole multitude—chose seven men for this special work. 
That women were included in the “whole multitude” there 
can be no question. For it is said, “And believers were the 
more added to the Lord, multitudes both of men and women” 
(Acts 5:14). And these assistants were called for, to see 
that a just and equal distribution was made to the widows 
(Acts 6:1). 

The choice of “the whole multitude” of believers was 
not conditional, but final. The word translated in the third 
verse, we may appoint, is in the original, in many of the 
best manuscripts, in the indicative mode, ice shall appoint. 

So we see that in the primitive church the governing 
power was: (1) in the people; (2) that the women shared 
in this power equally with the men. It is time that the 
Christian church outgrew heathen prejudices. 

74 CHURCHES, Building 

As a rule, it is not best to build a meeting-house in any 
locality unless there is interest enough in that locality to 
lead the people to pay for it. Cities where real estate is 
enormously high may be the exceptions. In the cities the 


44 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


poor are virtually shut out of the aristocratic churches and 
left to wander as sheep without a shepherd. The charge for 
sittings, and the costly apparel needed to appear in the 
company of richly-dressed church-members, quite effectually 
exclude the poor. If these undertake to build for them¬ 
selves a house of worship, where they may meet and wait 
on God in simplicity and sincerity, they deserve all the 
assistance that can be given them. 

But under ordinary circumstances no attempt should be 
made to build a church edifice unless the people of the. 
vicinity manifest a willingness to meet the necessary ex¬ 
pense. They can build houses for themselves to live in; and 
unless they have enough love for Christ to build a house in 
which they can meet in his name, then one had better not be 
built. A ship needs a crew; a fort needs a garrison; and 
a church needs members alive with love to God and full of 
zeal for the salvation of souls. Where Christ has such dis¬ 
ciples they will procure some place in which they may meet 
with the Master: where there are none, a place is not needed. 
A church is a battle-ground on which the war against Satan’s 
kingdom is to be carried on with vigor; but patriotic, dis¬ 
ciplined, courageous soldiers are of more account than any 
fortifications. Wherever there is occasion they can make a 
battlefield. Secure the converts and the church will follow. 
Let our main efforts, then, be directed to promoting revivals 
of religion—to get sinners converted, and believers to seek 
that holiness without which no man shall see the Lord. 
Then let churches be built where there is a real necessity 
for them. 

The expense of building any church should be within the 
means of the people who build it. They should adopt such 
plans as they can carry through without distressing them, 
selves. They should not place themselves in such a position 
that they are obliged to make appeals to the public, through 
the papers, for help. Such a course is wrong. We have no 
right to solicit money for religious purposes, and then 
jeopardize all that has been paid by recklessly running 
into debt. 

If you have not means to finish the church, enclose it, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


45 


and use it in that shape until you can raise means to finish 
it. You had better be three years in building a church, and 
have it paid for, than build it in three months and have it 
sold on a mortgage. 

One of our conferences was held this fall where the so¬ 
ciety first built a sod meeting-house. It was the birth-place 
of many souls. For a time it was the only public building in 
that part of the territory. United States courts were held 
in it. They now have a good frame church, and God is 
blessing their labors. 

75 CHURCHES, Do Not Borrow to Build 

Do not go to the bank, nor anywhere else, to borrow 
money to build a church with, relying upon any one’s sub¬ 
scription but your own. It is much easier to collect money 
to build a church than it is to collect money to pay a bank 
note. If you can not get the money to start with, then wait 
till you can. Be prudent in such matters. Do not involve 
yourself in money obligations any further than you can 
without distressing yourself or your family. Better not 
build a church than build one and backslide over it. The 
Roman Catholics manage such things better. They get 
their people to pay so much a week towards building a 
church, and go on with the building as the money is paid 
in. In church expenses, as in personal expenses, let your 
motto be, “Pay as you go.” Church debts should be avoided, 
for it is not the calling of the church to make money. 

76 CHURCHES: Property Title Should Be Clear 

In some places we are having trouble with the title 
to our church property. Greater care should be exercised 
in this respect. 

Make it a rule never to raise money or pay any con¬ 
siderable sum of money for a Free Methodist church, or 
school, or parsonage, until you are satisfied that a good 
title has been given, or will be given, to the Free Metho¬ 
dist church for the property. Have the deed drawn up 
in substantial agreement with the form given in our book 
of Discipline. Expend no money on property for which 


46 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


you have no title. If for any reason a deed can not be 
given at once, take a contract for such a deed, as our Dis¬ 
cipline requires, and pay at least one dollar on the contract 
to make it binding. Do not, in such matters, take the 
verbal promise of the best man on earth. He may suddenly 
die; and his heirs may be of another mind. The title to 
property is governed by law, and we should be careful in 
all such matters to go according to law. A little prudence 
and firmness at first may save a good deal of trouble and 
expense afterwards. But above all, keep your title to 
Heaven clear. 

77 CHURCHES, Expensive Versus Inexpensive 

The Methodist Episcopal Discipline of to-day reads: 
“Let all our churches be built plain and decent, and with 
free seats wherever practicable, but not more expensive 
than is absolutely unavoidable.” In practise the rule ap¬ 
pears to be, to build just as expensively as circumstances 
will permit. Is not this “holding the truth in unright¬ 
eousness” ? 

The New York Tribune says of one of the bishops of 
the Episcopal church: 

“Bishop Huntington takes the position that a wealthy 
city congregation has no moral right to worship in a 
luxuriously-appointed church, while it allows its poorer 
members to worship in a cheap mission chapel. If this 
principle were rigorously carried out, there would never 
be any costly churches. For there are always poor and 
plain churches in some part of the country, which would 
thus become the model and pattern for the religious wor¬ 
ship of the country.” ' * 

But people who are joined to their idols do not want a 
“pattern for religious worship.” They want to be let alone. 
The number who honestly embrace religious truth, when they 
see it, is exceedingly small. 

78 CHURCHES: Duty of Trustees 

Trustees of churches are agents of the society. They 
have no personal right above any other members of the so- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


47 


ciety in the church property committed to their care. The 
charge of funds raised to build, repair or furnish church 
edifices, or parsonages, properly belongs to them. The 
charge of all other financial matters belongs to the official 
board. It is the duty of trustees to carry out the wishes 
of the society. They should take no steps to build, repair, 
pull down, or sell any church property, without the con¬ 
sent of the society, fairly expressed in a society meeting 
properly called for the purpose of expressing its wishes in 
the matter. 

Our trustees should be men of God and men of 
sense. They should be men who know how to do busi¬ 
ness, and whose one aim, in doing business for the church, 
will be to promote its best interests and carry out the 
wishes of the society in the best manner. There should 
never be any conflict between the board of trustees and 
the official board. Generally there are so many of the 
same men on both boards, that conflict is hardly possible. 
But whether this is the case or not, both should so 
labor in their respective spheres to promote the welfare of 
the church, that there will be perfect harmony between 
them. 

79 CIVILITY to Strangers 

When strangers attend your meetings, treat them with 
civility. Though your seats are free, they may not know 
it; so if you see them looking around for a seat, help them 
to a gbod one. Put yourself out of the way to accommo¬ 
date others. 

If strangers speak in your meetings, and are not dressed 
as plain as they should be; or if their testimony is not as 
clear and explicit as it should be, do not make an assault 
upon them. This can do no good, but may do much harm. 
If possible, get acquainted with them, and get their confi¬ 
dence*, and put yourself in sympathy with them, and do 
them good. He that winneth souls is ivise; but he that 
drives them away, beyond the reach of his influence, by 
uncharitable judging and provoking language, is very far 
from being wise. 


48 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


80 CLASS-MEETING Attendance 

The class-meeting is a good place to try the spiritual 
pulse of the church. A revival that dees not result in 
increased attendance upon class-meetings is not likely to 
add permanently to the increased strength of the church. 
If there is life in the souls of the members, there is in¬ 
terest in the class-meeting. Those who have an experience 
of saving grace, love to talk of this experience. If one 
has any knowledge of divine things, he desires further in¬ 
struction in divine things. 

Those who prefer lawlessness to spiritual discipline do 
not like class-meetings. Unless they can be leaders, their 
choice is that there should be no leaders. In a spiritual, 
disciplined, effective Methodist church, class-meetings are 
well attended. There the weak are strengthened, and the 
strong become stronger. There backsliders are reclaimed, 
sinners converted, and believers sanctified. Reader, do you 
regularly attend class-meeting? 

81 COMMANDS, All, Must be Kept 

We must be Christians, not only in some respects, but in 
all respects. A man who makes his money by counterfeit¬ 
ing is not honest, though he pays all his debts and conducts 
himself in other respects as an upright citizen. So one 
who is habitually doing what God forbids, or neglecting 
to do what God commands, can not be in a state of ac¬ 
ceptance with him. This the Bible makes very clear. What 
can be plainer than the words of Christ, “Whosoever there¬ 
fore shall break one of these least commandments, and 
shall teach men so, he shall be called the least in the king¬ 
dom of heaven” (Matt. 5:19). Dr. Adam Clarke says this 
means that they shall not enter Heaven. This appears to 
be taught by St. James: “For whosoever shall keep the 
whole law, and yet offend in one point, he is guilty of all” 
(Jas. 2:10). If we claim the right to select what* com¬ 
mands we will keep and what we will disregard, how can 
we deny this right to others? But what does this amount 
to but a practical rejection of the Bible altogether? 



PUNGENT TRUTHS 


49 


82 COMMENTARY, Choice of 

A commentary on the Bible is a necessity for every 
preacher. The better educated he is the more he will feel 
the need of a commentary. The more pious, and therefore 
the more conscientious, he is, the more afraid he will be 
of giving a wrong construction to his text, and of thus 
teaching the people false doctrine. Many inquire, “What 
is the best commentary?” We have given the matter such 
attention as we could, and we are free to say that we like 
Dr. Adam Clarke’s the best by far of any that we have 
examined. Adam Clarke was one of the most learned men 
of his day. The great scientific and literary societies of 
Great Britain considered it an honor to them to have his 
name enrolled among them as a member. His piety was 
deep, fervent, and of the most thoroughly evangelical type. 
His comments are not dry, scholarly criticisms, such as an 
unconverted scholar might make; but he brings out the 
deep spiritual significance of the text. His commentary 
is not only helpful to the preacher, but to the devout Chris¬ 
tian who seeks for a right understanding of the Word 
of God. 

83 COMPLAINTS: Do Not Print Them 

A newspaper is not a tribunal for the trial of either 
ministers or members. Therefore, if you have any com¬ 
plaints to make against a preacher or member, do not rush 
into print with them. Obey the command of Christ in 
such cases: “Go and tell him his fault between thee and 
him alone” (Matt. 18:15). If this is done in the spirit 
in which it is intended, it will generally end the matter. 
Make an honest effort to win the brother back to his duty; 
and generally you will succeed; you will gain your brother. 
But be careful to keep filled with the spirit of humble love. 
What is said in print, it is right to review in print, so that 
it be done candidly. But what is alleged to have been 
said or done in private, unless it be a flagrant offense, 
should not be put in the papers to the reproach of the per¬ 
son concerned. 


50 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


84 COMPROMISE, To, May be Fatal 

You make a great, and, it may be, a fatal mistake, if 
you compromise principle under any pretense whatsoever. 
Of course you could not do it for the sake of worldly gain 
and still claim to be a Christian. But you are in danger of 
compromising for another reason. An apparent angel of 
light suggests that if you would not be so strict, you might 
do more good. If you would dress just a little like the 
world, they would listen to you more readily. If you 
would join a lodge, you might reach the Masons. This is 
a subtle artifice by which Satan draws many souls to per¬ 
dition. You yield to it at your peril. If you join in with 
the world, you will find that your influence with it is less 
than ever, except it be in a worldly channel. They may 
love you as a companion; but they have lost confidence in 
you as a Christian. In their hearts they despise you for 
the very concessions for which they flatter you. They will 
draw you, step by step, along with them in the broad road 
which ends in perdition. 

85 COMPROMISE, Danger of 

The Christianity of this country is gradually becoming 
like that which prevails in the State Church of Europe. 
People will belong to the church, and drink and swear and 
gamble and frequent theaters and balls. In short, they act 
like the world, dress like the world, live like the world, and 
go to the world for their pleasures, and yet are zealous 
members of the church and pay their money freely for its 
support. There are but few churches and but few preachers 
who draw the line of separation where God draws it in 
the Bible. 

We must, be careful and not allow this compromising 
spirit to steal over us. There is danger in every direction. 
When we unite with these worldly professors in commenda¬ 
ble reforms we are liable to give way by littles until we too 
drift into the world in spirit. The only safety is to obey 
Divine direction, “Wherefore come out from among them, 
and be ye separate.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


51 


86 COMPROMISE, Never 

Peace? I love peace. But I want the right kind of peace- 
peace founded on truth, not on falsehood; on realities, not 
on shams; on union with God, not on union with the prince 
of darkness. The peace of the grave is right for dead folks. 
But those who are full of life prefer the din of battle to the 
quiet of death. “What concord hath Christ with Belial?” 
They are not true soldiers of Christ, but traitors, who make 
peace with Satan. The conflict between sin and holiness 
can never cease till one or the other be brought under and 
subdued. No matter how badly you are treated, and how 
awfully you are threatened, make no truce, no peace, no 
compromise with sin. Take sides always with the right, that 
is, with God, and you will come off conqueror at last. 

87 COMPROMISE, There Must Be No 

We can not compromise God’s truth in the least. It is 
our business to proclaim it, in aH .humility and love, and 
yet with all boldness and fidelity. It will provoke op¬ 
position. There is no help for that. We must accept it in all 
meekness and firmness; but we must never, to please the 
worldly, make the conditions of salvation any easier than 
our Lord has made them. We must hold up fully the 
Bible standard. 

88 CONDITIONS OF SALVATION, Must Be Preached 

Preaching the gospel includes presenting clearly the 
conditions on which the gospel offers salvation to man. One 
who assures his hearers that all they have to do, to become 
Christians, is to believe that Christ accepts them, may make 
many converts; but he is deceiving them to their eternal 
undoing. Novel-reading, cigar-smoking, worldly-conformed 
professors are not disciples of Christ. “So likewise, who¬ 
soever he be of you that forsaketh not all that he hath, he 
cannot be my disciple” (Luke 14:33). This certainly in¬ 
cludes cigars and the fineries of dress. John Wesley wrote: 
“Let but a pert, self-sufficient animal, that has neither 
sense nor grace, howl out something about Christ, or his 


52 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


blood, or justification by faith, and his hearers cry out, 
‘What a fine gospel sermon!’ Surely the Methodists have 
not so learned Christ! We know no gospel without sal¬ 
vation from sin.” Do those who call themselves Metho¬ 
dists to-day receive this gospel? 

89 CONSCIENCE Must Be Tender 

A tender conscience should be carefully cultivated and 
sedulously guarded. If you can feel perfectly easy while 
living in habitual disobedience to plain commands of God, 
you have great reason to be alarmed. Your condition is 
extremely dangerous. The insensibility which is stealing 
upon you is the certain precursor of spiritual and eternal 
death. 

Be careful, then, how you violate your conscience. At¬ 
tend to its demands, even in the slightest particular. Its 
sharp edge is easily blunted. Its still small voice is read¬ 
ily silenced. Its faithfpl^ warnings, if unheeded, fail to be 
repeated. You will be left the sport of circumstances, a 
compass without a needle, a ship without a rudder. 

90 CONSECRATION, Mistaken 

The man most evidently possessed by an evil spirit, 
of all persons whom we have ever seen, was most frequently 
prostrated in meetings. He would seldom, if ever, hold a 
meeting without falling. Sometimes he would fall half a 
dozen times in the same meeting. No one thought he put 
it on. It was plain he was operated on by a superior power. 
He was a strong man physically and intellectually—a prac¬ 
tical man of good judgment—one of the last men you would 
expect to be led astray. He had been clearly converted and 
sanctified. “I have,” he said in a meeting, “consecrated my 
tools to God, never to do another day’s work in my life.” 
We took him one side and told him that such a consecration 
was not to God but to the devil. “Six days shalt thou labour, 
and do all thy work.” Paul, than whom no man can be more 
entirely consecrated to Christ, said, “These hands have min¬ 
istered unto my necessities, and to them that were with 
me.” He was not ashamed to work for a living when neces- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


53 


sary. From this time this man went on from bad to worse: 
yet he had a number of followers at first. He served a term 
in jail for the seduction of a young woman, whom he 
persuaded to go out with him to hold meetings. This 
opened the eyes of others, but his own remained blinded the 
same as ever. He became a religious tramp, and went away 
among strangers. His air of sanctity gave him, for a while, 
access to religious people; but as they found him out he 
went away to new fields, in search of new victims. What 
made this man fall? “The devil threw him down” (Luke 
9:42). 


91 CONSECRATION TO GOD the Better Way 

Extremes meet. The poor struggle to get a living: the 
rich struggle to live. The poor go about to get work: the 
rich go abroad to get away from care and work and worry. 
They leave a finely furnished home for a crowded hotel at 
some watering-place or seaside resort, in the hope of en¬ 
joying better health. They try the city and they try the 
country; they try the mountain and they try the valley; 
they try magnetic springs and they try hot springs; but 
nothing seems to fully agree with them. Thus, with them 
as with the poor, life is a continued battle for existence. 
The better way is to present our bodies a living sacrifice 
to God, and care for them and use them as he directs. He 
only is always safe who “seeks first the kingdom of God 
and his righteousness.” Freedom from consuming care is 
found only as we cast all our cares on God. Days illumi¬ 
nated with the steady sunshine of God’s favor, and filled 
up with deeds of kindness, cease to be burdensome, but are 
a joy and a delight. 

92 CONFERENCE, Importance of Attending Devotional Exercises at 

The prosperity of our work depends much upon our 

conferences. If they are occasions of spiritual profit, and 
all get baptized anew of the Holy Spirit into an increased 
love for souls, the work is likely to take a new start among 
us. But if a spirit of self-seeking or of division prevails, 
the work will suffer. 


54 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


There should be much prayer for our conferences and at 
our conferences. It is a great help to have an outpouring 
of the Spirit at the devotional exercises at the opening of 
the daily sittings. We have noticed that some ministers, 
who have dropped out of the work, began to fall away, as 
far as we could see, by dropping out of the devotional 
exercises. He aims wrong who aims to be out at prayer 
and in at roll-call. We are much more likely to act to¬ 
gether when we get blessed together. 

Both ends of iron must be brought to a red heat to be 
welded. Let us make our conference sessions revival 
seasons. 

93 CONFESSION 

God promises to forgive us our sins, if we confess our 
sins. “If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to 
forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unright¬ 
eousness” (1 John 1:9). But the confession must be a 
sincere one. There must be no covering up, no throwing 
the blame on others. That was what vitiated the confession 
of Adam—he laid the blame on his wife, and, indirectly, on 
God. If we have sinned, the guilt of our sins rests upon 
us alone. Others may have their responsibility in the case, 
but no matter what they do, that can neither condemn 
nor excuse us. We may yield to sin, but we can not be 
forced to sin. Without the consent of the will to any ac¬ 
tion, there is no sin in the action. Hence, when we confess 
our sins, it is not necessary to confess the sins of others, 
but we must acknowledge the wrong which we have done. 
We must humble ourselves; but at the same time we must 
be careful lest the transaction be vitiated by an attempt to 
humble some one else. A truly penitent spirit and an ac¬ 
cusing spirit are not found together. 

A wrong done to any human being is a sin against God. 
If any injury is wilfully done to the character, the repu¬ 
tation or the property of any—the lowest of the family of 
man—the law, equally binding on all, is transgressed and 
God is offended. The soul is under condemnation. If for¬ 
giveness would be obtained, the wrong must be acknowl- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


55 


edged and reparation made to the fullest extent possible. 
This is necessary, but it is not enough. God has been 
sinned against; and the sin must be confessed to God, and 
his pardon sought. His forgiveness must be implored, if 
the soul would find peace and have the penalty for sin re¬ 
mitted. So, if your heart is burdened with guilt, go to 
God with it. Ask him to forgive you for the sake of Christ, 
“Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the 
tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). But you need not go to any other 
being except to God, and to the one that you have injured. 
Preacher or priest has nothing whatever to do with the 
matter. They may tell you the 'condition, but they may 
tell you wrong; so you must do as the Word directs, and 
come to God for yourself. Men may forgive wrongs done 
to them, but they can not forgive those done to others; but 
God only can forgive sins. This is his sole prerogative; 
the right to exercise it is never delegated to any human 
being. The guilt of a transgression committed against God 
can be removed only by God himself. 

94 CONSIDERATE, Be 

One part of our religion should be to make others as 
little trouble as possible. We should be considerate. In¬ 
stead of adding to the burdens of others—and especially of 
those already overworked—we should seek to lighten them. 
We should govern ourselves by the rule, “Bear ye one 
another’s burdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ” (Gal. 
6:2). We should be very particular, in cases where 
others show us a favor, to make the favor as little burden¬ 
some to them as may be. Whatever we borrow should be 
returned in as good condition as we found it. 

Preachers whose piety we can not doubt write to us 
expecting an answer. They do not give their addresses. 
If written to about it, they justify themselves by saying, 
“You have my address on your mail-books in the office.” 
If they would consider, they would see that this does not 
justify the omission. The mail-books are in another room, 
in care of another person. We have to stop our work to 
go and make inquiries. He has to stop his work to hunt 


56 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


it up. Take it altogether, very much more time is con¬ 
sumed than would have been required for you to have 
given the necessary directions. Do not such neglects show 
that there is still some selfishness in the heart? Brethren, 
be considerate. 

95 CONSIDERATION of Others 

Those who are inclined to sit in judgment upon their 
brethren should read carefully Romans 14. We are taught 
that we must receive one whose faith is weak, but not to 
go to disputing with him about things concerning which 
Christians may righteously hold different opinions. Mat¬ 
ters that are not decided by the Word of God should be 
left for each one to settle with his own conscience. We must 
not judge one another. Nor, on the other hand, must we 
ostensibly continue in a course which we think is right, 
but our brethren think is wrong. We must be willing to 
sacrifice our own convenience to the convictions of others. 
Our love for our brethren must be stronger than our love 
for anything which we eat or drink, though we may be 
satisfied that it is perfectly harmless. We must care less 
for ourselves and more for others. 

“It is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor 
anything whereby thy brother stumbleth, or is offended, or 
is made weak.” 

96 CONSISTENT LIVING 

If the members and ministers of the Free Methodist 
church desire its prosperity, they can each contribute to it by 
living holy and consistent lives. All the attacks of our 
enemies do not hurt us as do our own inconsistencies. If 
we are indeed dead to sin, and filled with meek and lowly, 
and gentle love, if we are holy in conversation and prudent 
in conduct; in short, if Christ dwells constantly in our 
hearts, we shall grow and prosper. The best defense that 
can be made for us is the impression we make on others 
that we lead holy lives and die happy in God. If our mem¬ 
bers in any locality are full of life divine, “filled with the 
Spirit; speaking to yourselves [themselves] in psalms and 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


57 


hymns and spiritual songs,” the place in which they meet 
will be filled with people. But if they are contentious and 
bitter, no matter how eloquent may be their preacher, they 
will be left to themselves. 

97 CONSTANCY 

The weather varies, but the sun is invariable. He is 
always in his place. 

Some days we see him, and some days we see him not. 
But whether we see him or not, he is always in his place, 
exerting his silent, but mighty, influence. Our joy may 
vary; but our righteousness, like the sun, should never 
vary. Whether elated, or depressed, whether shouting from 
the mountain top, or in heaviness through manifold tempta¬ 
tions, we should go straight forward in the line of duty. 
Come what may, we should do right under all circum¬ 
stances. We should never be swerved from the path of 
rectitude by an influence from within or without. Neither 
flattery nor threatenings should make us deviate from the 
right. We should compel our enemies to say of us, as an 
enemy said of one old Roman, “It would be easier to turn 
the sun from his course than Fabricius from the path of 
honesty.” 

98 CONTENTMENT, with Godliness, Great Gain 

A man who has millions does not, at one time, sleep in 
but one bed, eat but one meal, and wear but one suit of 
clothes. It is doubtful if they afford him any more physical 
enjoyment than the temperate, frugal laborer derives from 
his plainer fare. The absurdity of men’s acquiring great 
estates was clearly shown by a Roman poet in the days 
of its wealth and luxury: 

“What though you thrash a thousand sacks of grain, 

No more than mine thy stomach can contain. 

The slave who bears the load of bread, shall eat 

No more than he who never felt the weight. 

Or say what difference, if we live confined 

Within the bounds of nature’s law assigned, 


58 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Whether a thousand acres of demesne, 

Or one poor hundred, yield sufficient grain?” 

—Horace, Sat. I, lib. i, v. 45. 

The greatest enjoyment which this world affords is 
found in a life of godliness. “Godliness with contentment is 
great gain ” (1 Tim. 6:6). 

99 CONTROVERSIAL SPIRIT to be Avoided 

Avoid a controversial spirit. It is not the spirit of 
Christ. Of him it was said, “He shall not strive nor cry, 
neither shall any man hear his voice in the streets” (Matt. 
12:19). It is dangerous business for one who enjoys re¬ 
ligion to be always attacking his brethren. If he keeps it 
up, he is sure to backslide. We are slow to take up arms 
against those we love. If you have anything to say in 
a religious meeting, do not say it in a way that will re¬ 
flect upon some one who has spoken. If you have anything 
to say through the press, say it independently, and not as 
a criticism upon the writings of another. 

Get your inspiration from the Lord; and not from others 
who write. There is a chance to criticize anything that is 
said or written. A construction that was not intended 
can be put upon the language. But even when a statement, 
fairly construed, is wrong, the best way to correct it is gen¬ 
erally to do it indirectly, and not by a flat contradiction. 
In writing and in speaking, as in war, success often de¬ 
pends upon one’s skill in making flank movements. The way 
to expel darkness from a room is to flood it with light. So 
the way to put down error is to hold up the truth. Let 
your light shine. Never mind the other man’s darkness. 
It will make no trouble in the circle filled with light. Put 
the best construction warranted on what you hear and 
read. “But if ye bite and devour one another, take heed 
that ye be not consumed one of another.” 

100 CONVERSION, a Miracle 

The conversion of sinners draws sinners. It may be late 
in the evening; but if sinners are getting converted, the 
congregation stops to see it through. And no wonder. The 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


59 


great object of religious meetings is the salvation of souls. 
When this object is secured, the people will, as a matter of 
course, be interested. A genuine conversion is a genuine 
miracle; and miracles always excite attention. A preacher 
who gives himself to the work of soul-saving can not be 
unsuccessful. He may not be talented; but if he has on his 
heart a burden for souls, he will excite attention. A stream 
never rises higher than its fountain—generally not as high. 
A preacher, no matter how loud he may vociferate, can not 
expect to excite in his congregation feelings deeper than his 
own. If he wants them to care for their souls, he must 
care for them. He who would have a revival among his 
people should have one in his own heart first. Where there 
is anything combustible, fire will spread. A blaze easily kin¬ 
dles a blaze. Reader, are you laboring to win souls? 

101 CONVERSIONS Must be Thorough 

The popular, easy way of getting sinners converted is 
having a bad influence over us as a people. Formerly when 
sinners came forward to be prayed for we prayed for them 
in dead earnest. The saints with one accord cried to God 
aloud; the penitents joined in, and the voice of supplication 
reached unto Heaven. It seemed almost impossible for one 
to go forward without being all broken down. There was 
a good deal of noise, but seldom any confusion. It was 
like the roar of Niagara, in perfect harmony with the oc¬ 
casion. Generally those who came forward were powerfully 
converted, and came out shouting and praising God. We 
have seen altar full after altar full converted the same night, 
and the work carried on all night long. 

Popular preachers did not want our converts. They did 
not know what to do with them if they got them. They 
could not manage them and keep them from giving a clear 
testimony and getting blessed in their formal, proper meet¬ 
ings. This would convict others. 

But now, get sinners forward, and professors will flock 
around them, pray a little, but talk with them and sing to 
them a great deal. There is too often but very little of 
earnest, united pleading with God for them. They are told 


60 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


to believe, and to profess that they love Christ, when there 
is no appearance of their having experienced any change. 
They are healed slightly. If they keep up their profession 
they will probably unite with some popular church; for all 
they have got is the popular religion. Brethren, the old 
way is better. Let us at once, and forever, abandon a mode 
of working that results in more self-deceptions than con¬ 
versions. Let us do thorough work for God. It is not 
enough to present the truth in all plainness; let us enforce 
it, and insist upon its being carried out in all our meetings. 

102 CONVERSIONS, Superficial 

Many, who profess to be converted, are not scripturally 
awakened. They are drawn into the church by personal at¬ 
tentions, and appeals to their love of pleasure. They are 
not warned to flee from the wrath to come. They have not 
seen themselves to be in danger. 

103 CONVERTS Must Turn from Sin 

Recruiting officers are eager to get recruits. But before 
they send them to the front they subject them to a rigid 
examination. They will get neither credit nor money for 
those whom they enroll who are unfit for service. Their su¬ 
perior officers are not to be imposed upon. 

God is not mocked. There is no use in bringing into his 
church a great number of converts, who have not been 
turned from sin to righteousness, with the expectation that 
he will recognize them. It makes no difference how zeal¬ 
ous they are for the church, if they still go on committing 
sin. They may be what the preacher calls “his most useful 
members”; but Christ disowns them. His language is, 
“Then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart 
from me, ye that work iniquity” (Matt. 7:20). Many live 
and die in his church; and pride themselves on their great 
usefulness; and wake up in eternity to find they are forever 
lost, because they consented to take up with something 
short of a heart-work—of a thorough conversion to God! 
Oh, it is an awful thing to live and die deceived! Reader, 
is your heart right with God? 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


61 


104 CONVERTS Should be Invited to Join 

The Carthaginian guard, Hannibal, and the Swedish 
king, Gustavus Adolphus, were the greatest warriors of 
their days, but they did not seem to know how to turn their 
victories to the best advantage. It is so with some preach¬ 
ers. They preach well, have good congregations, and good 
revivals; but they do not leave their circuits any stronger 
than they found them. They catch fish, and others string 
them and carry them away. They are too modest alto¬ 
gether. They are so afraid of proselyting that those con¬ 
verted under their labors do not know whether they want 
them to join their church or not. But the neighboring preach¬ 
er has no such scruples. He visits every desirable convert, 
tells him what an interest he feels in him, how much he needs 
his help, makes unfavorable insinuations against the Free 
Methodists, and invites him to join his church. He keeps on 
urging him until he gets his name. 

Brethren, it is not enough to cut the grain and tie it 
into bundles; but you need to draw it in. Your duty to 
people is not done when you get them converted; you 
should take them into the church, and build them up in 
faith and holiness. 

105 CONVICTION, An Evidence of 

People do not go forward to a Free Methodist altar 
because it is popular. As a rule, if they go there, it is 
because they have deep convictions. It is a step that re¬ 
quires no small degree of courage to take. No matter who 
comes forward to our altars, we should assume that they 
earnestly desire salvation, and we should act on that as¬ 
sumption. We should not discourage them, and weaken our 
own faith, by any word that appears to call in question 
their sincerity. Those who come forward should get what 
they come to seek. This should be the rule, and not the ex¬ 
ception. The one who has charge of the meeting should 
make everything contribute to this one result. He should 
not look for disappointment in a single case. All who labor 
at the altar should unite in faith for the salvation of every 
one who has come forward to the altar. They should not be 


02 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


content to take up with anything less. It greatly encour¬ 
ages others to come, when those who do come get what 
they seek. 

106 CONVICTION Should be Yielded to 

Conviction may be deep and overwhelming; but it is 
never irresistible. Those who will can always resist the 
Holy Ghost. St. Stephen told his hearers that they al¬ 
ways resisted the Holy Ghost. Yet they would not own 
that they were doing it. Perhaps they did not know it. 
The habit of resisting the Spirit had become a second na¬ 
ture to them. If you are ever expecting to get right with 
God, yield now to the gentle drawings from above. They 
will probably never be stronger. But every time you resist 
them the power of resistance is greatly strengthened. Then 
yield now. God is working within: do you begin to work 
out. Make every confession that you feel led to make. 
Consecrate up fully to all the light that God gives you. 
In short, begin from this moment to obey the Holy 
Ghost. 

107 COURAGE 

A true Christian must have true courage. There is no 
place for cowards in the kingdom of heaven. Among the 
Greeks and Romans virtue was courage. In our own lan¬ 
guage the primary meaning of valor is value. It is the 
duty of every child of God to be brave. A heart right with 
God is a heart strong to do and dare, and strong to en¬ 
dure. To fight the good fight of faith, we must be valiant- 
hearted. We must not be afraid of the enemies of the 
cross of Christ, no matter what power they may.possess. 
“And fear not them which kill the body,” is the command 
of our Captain. The Apostle cries, “Watch ye, stand fast 
in the faith, quit you like men, be strong.” Cowardice 
is weakness. We must keep from it, as we would shun 
hell. “The fearful... .shall have their part in the lake 
which burneth with fire and brimstone, which is the sec¬ 
ond death.” Then trample fear under your feet. Let it 
not have dominion over you. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


63 


108 COURAGE Needed 

What a conquering host the Free Methodist church would 
have been by this time if all who have received light and 
salvation among us had been true to their convictions and 
stood firmly at their posts! Had this been the case we 
should have acquired by this time a momentum that would 
sweep the track of all obstructions. The faint-hearted, the 
discouraged, the time-servers, the men-pleasers, do more 
harm than all the armies of opposers. 

“We want no cowards in our band 
Who will their colors fly; 

We call for valiant-hearted men, 

Who are not afraid to die.” 

No other person needs so high and so pure a courage as 
the soldier of Christ. However timid or shrinking we are 
by nature, the great Captain will, if we keep our eye on him. 
fill us with noble daring. Let us go forth from victory unto 
victory. Let us fight to the end. Add to your faith courage. 

109 COURAGE, Praying for 

“What are you at the altar for?” we asked, at a camp¬ 
meeting, of one of our young preachers, who, we had every 
reason to believe, enjoyed the blessing of holiness. 

“For more courage,” was the reply. 

He was a young Englishman who had landed on our 
shores during the war, and had enlisted in the Union army 
the day he landed. A total stranger to all our officers and 
soldiers, he won his way by his bravery to a captaincy be¬ 
fore the war ended. After the war he became converted and 
sanctified to God, and was called to preach. And now, this 
veteran of many battles in which men were killed all around 
him, was at the altar seeking courage that he might do his 
whole duty as a minister of Jesus Christ! He got it, and 
preached with fidelity, not only from the pulpit, but to 
crow r ds in the streets. 

A cow r ardly minister, whatever may be his talents, will 
be a failure. It will be a wonder and a mercy if he does 
not fail to reach Heaven through failing to declare all the 


64 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


counsel of God. It will go hard in the day of judgment 
with men who, for the sake of popularity, or salary, or posi¬ 
tion, or from a want of courage, compromise the truth of 
God. “The fearful.... shall have their part in the lake 
that burneth with fire and brimstone; which is the second 
death” (Rev. 21: 8). 

110 COURTEOUS, Be 

You must be sincere in all your discourse with your fellow 
men, but this does not imply that you are to be rough in 
your manners or unkind in your feelings. Quite the contrary. 
Christianity is love to God and love to man. If a man love 
not his brother whom he hath seen, how can he love God 
whom he hath not seen? But if we really love others we 
shall be good to them, patient towards their faults, and 
honest and persevering in our efforts to do them good. 
True love makes us ready to assist each other in every 
proper way. One of the greatest pleasures of life is to 
deny ourselves for those we love. Then do not think you 
are compromising because you are kind and friendly. Christ 
says, If 1 lay down my life for you, ye ought also to lay 
down your lives for one another. But what folly to talk of 
laying down our lives for one another, if we are not willing 
to give a seat to one another; or to help, as far as we may. 
one another to bear the burdens of life? Out of the abun¬ 
dance of the heart the mouth speaketh. No matter what may 
have been one’s advantages, or want of advantages, if we 
really love others we shall speak kindly to them and act 
kindly towards them. If we let them alone, we serve them 
just as we are commanded to treat the devil. And do you 
call that a course dictated by love? 

111 CRITICS, Troublers in Zion 

A Christian loves the truth. He will not knowingly 
countenance error. But he is not afraid of it. He does 
not feel called upon to correct every one in his own church 
who writes something or says something that is capable 
of a construction which he can not approve. God’s min¬ 
ister is a watchman, hearing the word at God’s mouth and 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


65 


declaring it from him. But he is not a watch-dog, barking 
at everybody that comes along, be he friend or foe. One 
such a critic in a church can kill the social meeting. 

Of all the troublers of Zion he is the most difficult to 
manage. If he is opposed, he poses as a martyr, and ex¬ 
cites sympathy and raises up a party to stand by him. As 
a rule, the only thing to do with him is to let him alone. 
In time he will make himself so intolerable that even those 
who sympathize with some of his views will give him up 
as a nuisance that ought not to be tolerated. 

112 CRITICAL, Do Not Be 

The honey-bee gathers food from flowers, but does not 
hurt the flowers. The noxious and useless ones it lets 
alone. It does not waste its time and strength by seek¬ 
ing to destroy them. Christians should do the same with 
the sermons they hear, and the articles they read. If 
there is any good in them, get it; if there is that which 
is worthless or hurtful, let it alone. This should be the 
rule. Of course there are exceptions, but the exception 
should not become the rule. He who spends his time in 
attacks upon articles he does not like, and upon persons 
he does not like, will not have time for much else. It 
is better to be gathering honey, than to go about stinging. 
There is a great difference between a honey-bee and a 
wasp—between an humble Christian and a cross critic. 

113 CRITICISM, Spirit of, Destructive 

A few years ago there was a flourishing Christian so¬ 
ciety here. The members were ultra-radical. There was 
nothing like a spirit of compromise among them. While 
they bent their energies to getting others saved, they pros¬ 
pered. But a spirit of criticism crept in among them. It 
grew stronger by exercise, and soon they began to put one 
another to rights. A long, hotly-contested church trial fol¬ 
lowed. One member was expelled, others withdrew, and the 
work of purifying went on till now there are but six mem¬ 
bers left. These, originally of the same faction, are falling 
out among themselves. They are evidently on the verge of 


66 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


extermination. “If ye bite and devour one another, take 
heed that ye be not consumed one of another.” “The be¬ 
ginning of strife is as when one letteth out water: therefore 
leave off contention before it is meddled with.” This is the 
only safe course. Avoid contention. Shun quarrels as you 
would shun the devil. 

114 DEATH, Triumph in 

Because one dies in peace, it is no evidence that he dies 
in a state of salvation. It seems to have been true of the 
wicked as far back as the days of the Psalmist, that “there 
are no bands in their death.” Their consciences are seared; 
they have no sense of guilt. They are utterly insensible to 
the things of eternity. 

But the wicked do not triumph in death. The most that 
can be said of them is that they die as the brute dies. 

Saints sometimes have sore conflicts at the hour of death. 
The enemy thrusts at them sore. Like the Savior, they 
may exclaim, “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me?” But these are the exceptions. Usually a godly life 
closes with a happy death. Said John Knox just before his 
departure: “I praise God for that heavenly sound.” A 
little later he said: “Now it is come,” and breathed his last. 

Said William Kendall as he was crossing over: “I have 
been swimming in the waters of death for two days, and 
they are like sweet incense all over me.” And later he re¬ 
peated : 

“Bright angels are from glory come, 

They’re round my bed, they’re in my room, 

They wait to waft my spirit home. 

All is well.” 

“Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my last 
end be like his.” 

115 DEBT, Do Not Go in 

No one can be happy who lives beyond his means. The 
fare may be good, but gloomy forebodings rob it of its 
relish. John the Baptist’s food was “locusts and wild 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


67 


honey,” but he was happy, for he walked with God. The 
papers state that a popular preacher was sued on a note for 
three hundred dollars, and he allowed judgment to go by 
default. When the officers of the church looked into the 
matter, they found that he was in debt, here and there, 
for borrowed money, to the amount of eighteen thousand 
dollars! Yet he had a salary of three thousand and five 
hundred dollars which was promptly paid. 

No matter what the income of some is, they can easily 
spend more. The appetite for luxuries grows by what it 
feeds upon. A simple way of living is the happiest way 
of living. Inordinate desires should be rooted out, not 
gratified. It takes but little to satisfy our real wants. 

116 DEBT, Preachers Should Not Go Into 

We trust that all our people will see to it that their 
preachers do not go into debt. Let there be no necessity for 
it. If they have not the money to pay the freight on their 
goods, do not lend it to them, but go around and raise it 
for them. If you have not a parsonage, let the official 
board rent a house and become responsible for the rent. 
See that the wants of the preacher’s family are supplied. 

If the preacher wants to borrow money of you, inquire 
what he wants to do with it. If to procure the necessaries 
of life, see that it is paid to him for his labors of love. 
If to go into business, do not lend it to him, nor let others 
do it. If you lend to him, the probability is that you will 
lose your money, and he his credit. He is in danger of 
backsliding over spending your money, and you over losing 
it. Take no risks of the sort. They generally prove 
disastrous all around. Good preachers are poor farmers. 
The reverse is not apt to be true. 

117 DEBT: No Excuse for Not Giving 

Where does any one get the notion that he is not to 
give for the cause of God when he is in debt? If being 
in debt should be considered a valid excuse for not giving, 
we fear that some would keep in debt all their days. In 
fact, they do; as soon as they get one farm paid for, they 


68 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


buy another. No; if you are in debt to your fellow men, 
you are still more indebted to God. Meet the demands he 
makes upon you promptly and cheerfully. You can not get 
out of debt without his help. Giving is one of the ways 
that God has appointed to secure his help. “Bring ye all 
the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat 
in mine house, and prove me now herewith, saith the Lord 
of hosts, if I will not open the windows of heaven and 
pour you out a blessing that there shall not be room 
enough to receive it.” Prove him with what? With all 
the tithes. Who will try it? 

118 DEBTS Should be Paid 

The next best thing to keeping out of debt is to pay 
one’s debts. Be prompt in doing it: for not only is your 
own credit at stake, but also the credit of the church to 
which you belong. If it is impossible for you to pay as 
you expected, make haste to inform the party to whom 
you are indebted, that he may not depend upon it, and ask 
for an extension. Christians must have integrity all 
through them. Laxity in business matters implies laxity 
in religious principles. He who is not strictly honest can 
not be truly pious. Better go hungry than go in debt for 
luxuries; better go in rags than wear fine apparel for which 
you are keeping some one out of his pay. Better not prom¬ 
ise to help on some religious or benevolent cause, than prom¬ 
ise and not pay. The Psalmist said, “Integrity and upright¬ 
ness shall preserve me.” They are just as powerful pre¬ 
servatives at the present day. A small leak may sink a 
vessel; a little act of dishonesty lets in a flood of tempta¬ 
tion that may be overwhelming in its consequences. The 
Scripture rule, from which it is not safe to swerve; is: 
“Provide things honest in the sight of all men.” 

When a man who has, in his career of sin, run deeply 
into debt, professes to be converted, but lets his debts go, 
and thinks he must devote all his time “in the work of 
the Lord,” and be supported in it, his case looks suspicious. 
He should be encouraged to work with his hands, pay his 
debts and get money ahead to buy books, and a horse and 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


69 


buggy, if needed. He could then come with confidence to 
God for his blessing; he would have boldness before his 
fellow men; and the probability of his holding out to the 
end would be greatly strengthened. 

119 DECEIVED, Danger of Being 

To be deceived in regard to one’s spiritual state is a 
very dangerous kind of deception. Yet many professors, 
and even ministers, are thus deceived. Christ has told us it 
will be so to the end. 

120 DECEIVED SOULS 

It is a terrible thing for a soul to be deceived. Yet 
multitudes are. Runyan’s description of Talkative will 
apply to many. “He talketh of prayer, of repentance, of 
faith, and of the new birth: but he knows them only to 
talk of them. I have been in his family, and have ob¬ 
served him, both at home and abroad; and I know what I 
say of him is the truth. His house is as empty of religion 
as the white of an egg is of savour. There is there neither 
prayer, nor sign of repentance of sin: yea, the brute in his 
kind serves God far better than he. He is the very stain, 
reproach and shame of religion to all that know him; it 
can hardly have a good name in that end of the town 
where he dwells, through him. Thus say the common peo¬ 
ple who know him: ‘A saint abroad and a devil at home.’ 
His poor family find it so. Men that have any dealings 
with him say, ‘It is better to deal with a Turk than with 
him’; for fairer dealings they shall have at their hands.” 

Reader, are you deceived? If you have the Spirit, you 
must bring forth the fruits of the Spirit. 

121 DECEPTION 

Deception may for a time be successfully practised upon 
men, but it can not be upon God. No one is keen enough 
to deceive God, either as to his actions or his motives. His 
eye penetrates the deepest obscurity, and the hidden things 
of darkness he will bring to light. “For his eyes are upon 
the ways of man, and he seeth all his going” (Job 34:21). 


70 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Seeker says, “Man may gild over the leaves of a blurred 
life with the profession of holiness; but God can unmask 
the painted Jezebel of hypocrisy, and lay her naked to her 
own shame.” 

122 DEFINITE, We Must Be 

We shall never succeed as Christians until we learn to 
be definite. 

If you want forgiveness, you must seek it distinctly and 
definitely. Holiness must be sought in the same way. Indefi¬ 
nite longings for it bring it no nearer. 

123 DELAY, Example of 

We should be prudent, but prudence carried to excess is 
no longer prudence. It may become cowardice. 

In going to an appointment on our circuit, in other years, 
we passed a farm on which stood an old log house. The 
owner busied himself every winter in preparing to build a 
new one. One winter he got out the timber. To draw the 
logs and get boards sawed took two or three winters more. 
Another winter or two was spent in making shingles. And so 
the years rolled by. Before his preparations were completed 
the timber had rotted. The process needed to be gone over 
again. The last we knew of him he was still living in the 
old house. It was propped up to keep it from falling ovei. 
So some sinners waste their time in preparing to become 
Christians, and some Christians in preparing to become 
sanctified wholly. The best thing to do is to act promptly. 
He who will repent is as ready to repent as he ever will be; 
he who will consecrate himself wholly to God needs no fur¬ 
ther preparation to do it. 

124 DELUSION, Danger of 

When one gives to his inward, spiritual leadings a greater 
authority than he does to the plain teachings of the Bible, 
he exposes himself to every delusion of the devil. He is 
almost certain to be led astray. We are very clearly taught 
that the written Word of God is superior to any inward 
revelations which even the holiest of God’s people may 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


71 


claim to have. “To the law and to the testimony: if they 
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no 
light in them” (Isa. 8:20). Yet they may claim to be full 
of light. All such claims should be rejected. St. Paul 
is very explicit: “But though we, or an angel from heaven, 
preach any other gospel unto you, than that which we 
have preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). 
Just in the degree that one gets away from the Bible, does 
he get away from Christ. If he is inclined to strictness, 
he is liable to become a Pharisee; if to laxity, he may 
take up with some of the various forms of spiritism. In 
either case he is in danger of losing his soul. “All scrip¬ 
ture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for 
doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in right¬ 
eousness; that the man of God may be perfect, throughly 
furnished unto all good works” (2 Tim. 3:16). 

125 DEMONSTRATIONS, Political and Religious 

We protest against the politicians finding fault after 
this with noisy religious meetings. If they ever had any 
right to do it, they have utterly forfeited that right. We 
have been in about as noisy religious meetings as are often 
held. We never witnessed any that bore any comparison 
with the political demonstrations made of late. We at¬ 
tended no political meetings during the last campaign, but 
it was impossible to be in a city and escape the noise. Prin¬ 
cipal streets were blockaded by political processions for 
hours, so that it was impossible for street cars or carriages 
to pass. But the police made no arrests on this account. 
The papers had no protests to offer. 

A decent respect for the rights of Christians ought to 
keep our cities and towns from arresting a little band of 
pilgrims who go through the streets singing in an ordinary 
manner, and marching along without causing any serious 
obstructions. If any more arrests of the kind are made, 
all the papers of the land ought to cry out against them. 
Eternal things are of much greater concern than any 
elections. We do not read that the inhabitants of the 
heavenly world take any interest in political matters, but 


72 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


we do read that “there is joy in the presence of the angels 
of God over one sinner that repenteth.” 

126 DEVELOPMENT Always Possible 

You may be in “close circumstances,” but you need not 
lack room for expansion and development. However you 
may be hemmed in, there is always room to dig down and 
to build up. Near us, in Chicago, is a new building which 
has just gone up to the height of thirteen full stories. The 
lot on which the building stands is comparatively small, 
but in the building there are many rooms. So, if your 
sphere of labor is limited, you can raise your work to as 
high an elevation as you please. It was a small parish, 
among a rude people living in the narrow valleys of the 
Alps, where Pastor Oberlin labored; but his earnest, self- 
denying labors have made his influence felt in distant lands. 
Any circuit is large enough to afford opportunities for a 
preacher to win an imperishable crown. Not those who 
are listened to with rapturous applause by eager thou¬ 
sands, but those who turn many to righteousness shall 
shine as the stars for ever and ever. 

127 DEVOTION, Fires of, Must be Kept Burning 

When the water is low in a boiler, or the oil is low in 
a kerosene lamp, there is danger of an explosion. So, when 
piety is low in the heart, there is no telling what havoc 
some passion, suddenly bursting loose, may make. The pros¬ 
pects of life may be blighted, the peace of a family be 
disturbed, the hope of Heaven be destroyed. Be careful 
then, and not decline in piety. Make use of all necessary 
means to keep the fires of devotion burning in your heart. 
Before you leave your room, seek the blessing of the Lord, 
in earnest, fervent prayer. The first thing you read in the 
morning, read a portion of the Scriptures. If you have a 
family, keep family prayer with perfect regularity. Your 
children need the influence of domestic worship. Let their 
home be to them a house of God. Get blessed with your 
family and your family will be a blessing to you. 





PUNGENT TRUTHS 


73 


128 DISCIPLESHIP, Conditions of 

Experience often illustrates the Bible, but it never takes 
its place. Your watch may tell you when to look for 
the rising of the sun, but it never regulates it. No matter 
what your watch says, the sun rises all the same, at his 
appointed time. 

Apparently converted persons may differ widely in tell¬ 
ing how they were converted, but the conditions of disci- 
pleship remain the same. One may say he had to give 
up the lodge, and another may declare he did not; but it 
still remains true that “whosoever he be of you that for- 
saketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” 
(Luke 14:33). No matter how high may be the profession, 
and how eloquent may be the discourse of a Masonic preach¬ 
er, all does not weaken the force of the divine command, 
“Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye sep¬ 
arate, saith the Lord.” 

Worldly, time-serving preachers may say, “It does not 
make any difference how one dresses; a fashionable lady 
may be just as devoted a Christian as one who dresses 
plain.” A devotee of fashion, in earnest tones, and with 
gestures flashing light from her jeweled hand, may tell of 
her wonderful conversion, and how she “finds that the 
pursuit of pleasure does not interfere with her rapt fellow¬ 
ship with her dear Savior,” but all this does not abolish the 
command, “Be not conformed to this world,” or do away 
with the force of these emphatic words, “If any man love 
the world, the love of the Father is not in him” (1 John 
2:15). Let us not be drawn away from the plain teach¬ 
ing of the Bible. “But though we, or an angel from heaven, 
preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have 
preached unto you, let him be accursed” (Gal. 1:8). 

129 DISCIPLINE Must be Sustained 

Members of the church guilty of flagrant immorality 
should be excluded from the church. Their example should 
be made a warning to others. But we have been surprised 
to see how, in such cases, good people will be carried away 


74 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


by their sympathies, and stand by one who has forfeited all 
claims to the Christian character. 

Some years ago a preacher came to us from another de¬ 
nomination. He professed to be fully in sympathy with 
our principles. For several years there was trouble with 
him at every session of the conference. Complaint was made 
that he used tobacco. He acknowledged that he had used 
it, but in the most solemn manner declared he had given it 
up. After conference he would again use it. At last he 
was turned out for grossly immoral, wicked conduct. The 
evidence of his guilt was conclusive. In a few months he 
became a common drunkard and outcast. Yet so many 
members of the church he last served stood by him, and 
took sides against the action of the conference in expelling 
him, that the society was utterly destroyed. There has 
never been one in that place since. Yet these people were 
very excellent people. 

It is dangerous to become partizans. You should never 
stand by any one in a wrong. We may feel sympathy for 
those who do wrong, and be kind to them and endeavor to 
help them, but we should not do anything that looks like 
sympathizing with the wrong. We should not leave the 
church because unworthy members are turned out. 

130 DISCIPLINE Must be with Leniency 

We can not see how it is possible for one to be eager 
to turn people out of the church, and at the same time love 
their souls. Suppose they are not right; will they stand 
a better chance to get right out of the church than they 
will in it? We read that the goodness of God leadeth to 
repentance, but we do not read that the severity of the 
church tends to produce this effect. But few church trials 
are conducted so fairly that those who are turned out do 
not go away with a settled feeling that injustice has been 
done them. They have friends on the outside who sympa¬ 
thize with them. The influence upon the community is 
such that it is very difficult to have a revival in that church 
for years afterwards. We know of a church from which, 
a few years ago, some half a dozen of those generally con- 



PUNGENT TRUTHS 


75 


sidered good members were turned out. We inquired of 
one who was active in prosecuting them, what they were 
turned out for, but in only one case could we get anything 
definite. There have been good preachers on that circuit 
since, but they have been barely able to hold their own. To 
have an extensive revival seems to be out of the question. 
The Free Methodist church is not so popular that people 
generally are anxious to stay in it, unless they have at 
least a desire for salvation. Perhaps another preacher can 
help those whom you are not able to influence for good. 
Give them a chance. 

131 DISCIPLINE Versus Salvation 

A chairman in the Kansas conference, some years ago, 
in representing one of his preachers, said, “He has not 
much salvation to offer, so he goes it heavy on discipline.” 
Is not that the real seat of the difficulty with preachers 
who have so much more zeal and success in getting people 
out of the church than they do to get them to unite with 
the church? . They have not much salvation to offer. They 
can see the disease, but do not furnish a remedy. A per¬ 
son who has the toothache will not make up any more 
faces if you cut off his head. But is that the best way to 
treat him? To destroy a church is not the best way to 
promote its purity. Piety, prudence and patience will go 
further towards getting people fitted for the kingdom of 
God, than will a furious zeal to turn them out of the 
church. Before you begin proceedings to turn members 
out of the church, read the chapter on Discipline in “Fish¬ 
ers of Men.” Above all, read Matt. 18:15-17. Then pray 
for them, until your heart is filled with deep, tender love 
for their souls. In proceeding against them, act just as 
you would if the person complained of was your own 
brother or son. Remember that the great object to be 
gained is the salvation of the soul. 

132 DISCERNMENT 

All Christians should have a good degree of spiritual 

discernment. They should have eyes to see. This is espe- 

0 


76 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


daily true of ministers of the gospel. They should not be 
suspicious, on the one hand, nor should they be easily im¬ 
posed upon, on the other. It is this needed spiritual dis¬ 
cernment which Christ promised his disciples when he said. 
“Whose soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them; 
and whose soever sins ye retain, they are retained” (John 
20:23; also Matt. 18:18). They shall have such discern¬ 
ment that, from the evidences given, they can tell whether 
one is truly converted and fit for church fellowship, or not. 
Just as of old, in the case of leprosy, literally, the priest shall 
pollute him ; that is, pronounce him unclean; or, with other 
evidences before him, the priest shall cleanse him’, that is. 
shall pronounce him clean (Lev. 13:8, 13). In both cases 
God does the work, but he gives his servants discernment 
to tell when it is done. A blind leader is a dangerous guide. 

133 DISCONTENT, A Remedy for 

Many professed Christians are victims of discontent and 
uneasiness. The old as well as the young—those who want 
for nothing in the way of bodily comforts, as well as the 
poor—are thus tormented. They seek relief by changing 
their circumstances and their associations; but, especially 
if advanced in life, seldom find it—only in the grave. They 
do not seem to have learned that 

“The mind is its own place; and in itself 
Can make a Heaven of hell, a hell of Heaven.” 

The cause of this discontent is sometimes pride, and 
sometimes the consciousness of leading a useless life. Time 
will hang heavily upon the hands of those who have retired 
from the active business of life, unless they are doing 
something to make those around them better and happier. 

The gospel has a remedy for all this unrest of spirit. 
“Take my yoke upon you,.and learn of me,” says Jesus, 
“and ye shall find rest unto your souls.” The yoke is the 
symbol of work. If, then, you would be contented and 
happy, forget yourself and live to do good to others. You 
will not find it so hard to trust in Jesus, if you are ac¬ 
tively engaged in his service. As you bless others, God will 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


77 


bless you in many ways. Stop complaining, and go visit 
the sick. Carry relief to that burdened one, and relief will 
come to you. As you help bear the burdens of others, you 
will find it easy to cast all your care upon the Lord, and 
you will find that he careth for you. 

134 DISCRIMINATION Necessary 

There are many things about a white-clover blossom 
that a honey bee does not like. But it does not go to fight¬ 
ing and stinging these to bring them to its liking. The 
blossom has honey concealed in its depths. This the bee 
finds out, and proceeds to appropriate it to its own use. 
What it does not like it lets alone. We should learn to 
treat books, and periodicals and sermons in the same way. 
We should not swallow everything, any more than the bee 
does the stamens and pistils of the flowers that furnish it 
food. We should discriminate with care. What there is 
scriptural, and that will do us good, we should receive; 
what is hurtful or useless, we should reject. Many are 
unstable and sickly, because they devour everything that 
is set before them. 

135 DOING OR DOUBTING 

Many are in doubt about their inward experience, be¬ 
cause they are doing too little for others. If a living body 
does not have food from without, it feeds upon itself. So, 
if a truly converted person is not doing for others, he is 
troubled about himself. The reason why he feels that he 
is lacking in grace is because he has not used the grace he 
had. As water is drawn from a well, water from unseen 
sources comes running in. So, as grace is dispensed to others, 
grace multiplies, like the barley loaves which the disciples 
handed out to the multitude. In helping others we help 
ourselves. In bearing one another’s burdens our own grow 
lighter. Any one of Christ’s disciples who needs our help 
stands to us in the place of Christ. “And the King shall 
answer and say unto them, Verily I say unto you, Inasmuch 
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these my breth¬ 
ren, ye have done it unto me” (Matt. 25 : 40). 


78 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


136 DRESS, Worldly Conformity in 

Putting on gold to adorn the person by one who was 
once clear in his experience, is an indication that he has 
backslidden from God. So far as we know, all Methodist 
Disciplines are agreed in saying that the putting on of gold 
and costly apparel is “doing what one knows is not for the 
glory of God,” and something that none can do who have 
a “desire to flee from the wrath to come, and to be saved 
from their sins.” However the different branches of the 
Methodist church may differ, they are all agreed in their 
published position on these points. This is laid down in 
their printed constitution. It is also the plain teaching 
of the Bible. “Be not conformed to this world.” What¬ 
ever else may be embraced in this general prohibition, it 
certainly includes all that the Bible forbids by name. So 
if you are by littles putting on things that you could not 
once wear, it is a sure indication that you are backsliding 
from God. You are gradually and noiselessly slipping away 
from him. Many things indicate this to others, though you 
yourself fail to see it. You are not as ready to give your 
testimony as you once were. It is no longer clear and defi¬ 
nite and affecting. You may say the same things in a 
fashionable dress that you used to say in a plain dress, 
but there is not the same ring to it. The indorsement 
of the Spirit Is wanting. Your words are powerless. Your 
appearance conflicts with your testimony. Consent to see 
and acknowledge that you are backslidden. Return unto 
the Lord, and he will return unto you. 

137 DRESS, Superfluous Ornaments Formerly Forbidden 

Years ago Methodists could not gain admission to their 
love-feasts without a ticket given them by the preacher 
in charge of the circuit. The rule of Discipline, by which 
he was governed, read: “Give no ticket to any, till they 
have left off superfluous ornaments. Allow no exempt case, 
not even of a married woman. Better one suffer than many. 
Give no tickets to any that wear high heads, enormous bon¬ 
nets, ruffles, or rings.” 

If this rule were carried out to-day, how many sisters 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


79 


would they have in their love-feasts? Were they fanatical 
then, on the subject of dress, or are they backslidden note? 
Times may change, but God does not change. His Bible 
does not change. It still reads, “Whose adorning, let it 
not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of 
wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be 
the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not cor¬ 
ruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, 
which is in the sight of God of great price.” 

138 DRESS, Worldly, A Hindrance 

In trying to get to the Lord, the scissors can often be 
used to advantage. God has an order in which he works 
in the spiritual, as well as in the natural world. If we 
would have him draw nigh to us, we must draw nigh to 
him. This we must do by putting aside everything which 
he forbids. If you would have him take the pride out 
of your heart, you must put all appearance of it off 
from your person. God will not take the puffed-up 
ribbons from your bonnet. You can do that. At some of 
the camp-meetings we have attended this year, the scissors 
have been freely used. The effect has been good. Taking 
off superfluities, opens the channel through which the water 
of life flows to the soul. If you would get blessed, as you 
used to, and have the power you used to have, then dress 
just as plainly as you did then. You can not put on the 
world ever so little, without losing in your soul. In what¬ 
ever degree you conform to the world, in that same degree 
you lose the transforming power of the Spirit of God from 
your heart. In order to be saved, you came out from the 
world; to keep saved, you must be separate. 

139 DRESS, Command Respecting, to be Regarded 

The right to disregard one command of the Bible implies 
the right to disregard any other* command. They all possess 
the same authority. They rest on the same basis—the 
absolute sovereignty of God. The less temptation there 
is to break any particular command, the greater perversity 


80 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


of heart must there be in the one who breaks it. He who 
steals to keep from starving may not be a willing criminal; 
but he who steals when no necessity goads him on, does it 
because he is a thief. Ask professed Christians who violate 
a plain precept of the Bible, and who encourage the ex¬ 
travagance of the age by wearing gold and costly array, 
why they do it, and they will tell you it is not because they 
care anything for it. They would as soon dress plain as 
not. Why not then obey God, and “be not conformed to 
the world” in things which God forbids? Why profess to 
be a Christian while living in disobedience to the plain com¬ 
mands of God? “And why call ye me Lord, Lord, and do 
not the things which I say?” (Luke 7:46). 

140 DRESS Should be Plain 

If you consecrate yourself to the Lord to dress plain, 
as he commands, then carry it out in all particulars. Do 
not let the costliness of the material of your dress be a 
compensation to your pride for the plainness of the style 
in which it is made. Do not pay more for one piece of 
cloth, because it looks better, than you would have to for 
another that would be equally serviceable. Be consistent 
throughout. If you do not put on gold or pearls, then do 
not put on any imitation of gold or pearls. Not only avoid 
evil, but avoid the appearance of evil. If you lay aside 
your necktie, do not button your collar with a large brass 
button that looks like gold. If you have abandoned cigars, 
do not put a dude smoking-cap on your head. If a young 
lady can not wear a feather on her hat, then she should 
not bunch up a quantity of ribbon to take its place. If 
you have renounced the devil, then renounce the devil's 
substitutes. If you are a child of God, then dress like a 
child of God. Formerly hypocrites were described as those 
who “steal the livery of Heaven to serve the devil in.” 
Now the order is reversed, and professed saints steal the 
livery of the devil to serve God in. Do neither. Stand 
out in your true colors, an humble saint of God, clothed 
with humility, perfectly transparent, a living epistle known 
and read of all men. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


81 


141 DRESS: Ornaments of a Christian 

Women of the world are seldom found without orna¬ 
ments. At home or abroad they are adorned for the oc¬ 
casion. They wear rings in the kitchen and at the wash-tub. 

Christians should always wear their ornaments. Stran¬ 
gers and friends, domestics and children, should always find 
them arrayed in their appropriate adornings. Their orna¬ 
ments are, in the estimation of the best judges, the most 
valuable in the world. They outweigh gold in value; they 
far exceed diamonds in their brilliancy and costliness. The 
wealth of the greatest millionaire would not suffice for the 
purchase of the least of them. 

St. Peter places, as chief among them, “the ornament of 
a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of 
great price” (1 Pet. 3:4). 

Have you this ornament? It comes from only one coun¬ 
try—Heaven. God alone can bestow it. Without it you 
can never appear in his court. 

142 DRESS of Clergymen 

We do not read in the Acts of the Apostles that the 
tailor had any part in fitting out the primitive heralds 
of salvation. Not the slightest mention is made of the 
shape in which the garments were to be made that they 
were to wear when conducting religious services. The 
Epistles are equally silent. So far as we can gather from 
the New Testament, the early ministers of the gospel wore 
such clothes as were worn by others of their nationality. 
Mention is made in 2 Tim. 4:13, of Paul’s cloke, but Dr. 
Adam Clarke thinks it was something like a bag or port¬ 
manteau. It is evident that it had nothing to do with his 
preaching. 

The dress worn by Romish priests, and the imitations 
of this worn by the clergy of the church of England, when 
conducting service, were copied from those worn by the 
Jewish and heathen priests. This practise has not the 
slightest warrant in the New Testament. It is a fragment 
of priestly usurpation to which Christians should give no 
countenance. 


82 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


143 DUTY, Conviction of 

To be a true Christian you must be governed by a con¬ 
viction of duty. If you go by impulse you will be fluctuating 
and unsteady. Bramwell says: “What is my duty? This 
is the point, without the least regard to consequences. For 
this reason, retire from every company, however friendly, a 
number of times in the day. Mind not what looks or words 
you may receive; stay in no place where you can not do 
this. Go to no parties without first knowing the persons 
and what is likely to take place. Claim your liberty by 
never consenting contrary to sound judgment. Let nothing 
hinder the full salvation.” 

144 EARLY RISING 

God made light for the eye and the eye for light. View 
it candidly, and it looks like a reflection upon his wisdom 
for one, without special occasion, to sit up late at night, 
depending on artificial light, and then lie abed late in 
the morning, when God’s glorious sunlight is flooding the 
earth. Great saints have been early risers. Law, in his 
“Call to a Holy Life,” says: “I take it for granted, that 
every Christian, who is in health, is up early in the morning; 
for it is much more reasonable to suppose a person up 
early, because he is a Christian, than because he is a 
laborer, or a tradesman, or a servant, or has business that 
wants him. For if he is to be blamed as a slothful drone, 
that rather chooses the lazy indulgence of sleep, than to 
perform his proper share of worldly business; how much 
more is he reproached, that had rather be folded up in a 
bed, than be raising up his heart to God in acts of praise 
and adoration.” The Psalmist says, “I myself will awake 
early” (Ps. 57: 8). 

145 EDUCATION 

It is a great mistake for a person to think that because 
he is educated, he is, therefore, called and qualified to teach 
the people of God. But it is an equal mistake for one to 
conclude that, because he has but little learning, he is 
therefore called to be a teacher in Israel. “God hath chosen 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


83 


the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and 
God hath chosen the weak things of the world to con¬ 
found the things which are mighty”; but it does not follow, 
by any means, that all the foolish and all the weak are 
chosen. And those thus chosen do not remain foolish and 
weak. They do not demonstrate their call by declaiming 
against education and despising dominion, and speaking 
evil of dignities. (See Jude 8). In the fulfilment of 
Christ’s promise is their claim made good: “For I will 
give you a mouth and wisdom, which all your adversaries 
shall not be able to gainsay nor resist” (Luke 21:15). 
John Bunyan was an unlearned man, but he forced his 
way to recognition by such simple and sublime utterances 
as instructed and charmed all classes of mankind. Ben¬ 
jamin Abbott had no education, but under his powerful ap¬ 
peals strong men fell like trees before the wind. 

Prove yourself a John Bunyan, or a Benjamin Abbott, 
and Free Methodists everywhere will gladly listen to you. 
They greatly need such men, and would give them a hearty 
welcome. 

146 ENEMIES, Christ Commands Us to Love Our 

We must never lose sight of the fact that Christ com¬ 
mands us to love our enemies. Their conduct may have been 
most outrageous, but we must leave them with God. Ven¬ 
geance belongs to him. It does not do for one who thinks 
of going to Heaven, to hold old grudges against any person. 
If others have sinned against you, that is no reason why 
you should sin against God. If you have been defrauded 
or wronged, even by a brother, the Lord has promised to 
be your avenger (1 Thess. 4:6). Leave yourself in his 
hands. Be of a forgiving spirit. Watch for their amend¬ 
ment with the solicitude of a parent over an erring child. 
If there is any change for the better, be ready to encourage 
it. “Charity hopeth all things.” We should be willing to 
forgive all whom the Lord will forgive. “Put on, therefore, 
as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, 
kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, for¬ 
bearing one another, and forgiving one another, if any man 


84 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


have a quarrel against any: even as Christ forgave you, so 
also do ye” (Col. 3:12, 13). 

147 ENVY, Cure for 

Love is the cure for envy. The prosperity of one whom 
you love does not disturb you. You have an interest in 
all that concerns him, and his success is, in a measure, 
your own. 

148 ERRORS, Wisdom in Dealing with 

Jesus did not aim to tear down, but to build up. He 
supplanted the Jewish church, but he made no attacks upon 
it. He dispelled darkness by bringing in the light. The 
false teaching of the scribes and Pharisees he refuted by 
clearly stating the truth. He came not to destroy men’s 
lives, but to save them. If we would do good, we must 
follow his example. It is seldom that errors are removed 
by direct efforts to refute them. Gracious words go further 
towards reforming men than reproachful words. Those who 
are rooted and grounded in the truth are not liable to drink 
in error. If a tree brings forth evil fruit, our efforts 
should be directed, not so much to destroy the fruit, as to 
make the tree good. Preaching against wrongs and mean¬ 
nesses is not necessarily preaching the gospel. When we 
get men to throw away a false hope, we should do it by 
the bringing in of a better one. Dead formality is removed 
by coming to the people with the life and power. 

149 EVANGELIST, The Work of an 

The special work of an evangelist is to carry the gospel 
to the unsaved. It is his mission to go to those who are 
destitute of the means of grace, and offer salvation to the 
lost. He is what is called in our day a missionary. Evan¬ 
gelists should not spend most of their time, nor much of 
their time, with old societies; but they should go where 
there are no societies, and raise up societies. To do this 
there are plenty of opportunities. Everywhere there is need 
that the masses should be evangelized. In this greatly 
needed work all preachers should take a part. It was to 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


85 


a bishop that Paul wrote, “Do the work of an evangelist.’* 
It was not enough that he looked after the work that was 
already established. He must plant churches in other 
places. Brother, look at the masses perishing around you. 
Go to them, and try to get them saved. “Do the work 
of an evangelist.” 

150 EVIL SPEAKING 

John Wesley says a Christian “can speak evil of his 
neighbor no more than he can tell a lie.” This is none 
too strong. The Bible sustains the statement. The man 
who shall dwell in God’s holy hill is, “He that backbiteth 
not with his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor 
taketh up a reproach against his neighbour” (Ps. 15:3), 
There is no use in your talking and singing about Heaven, 
as long as you are talking about your neighbors. You’will 
never reach Heaven if you are given to backbiting. An 
unsanctified tongue is a dangerous weapon wielded by an 
unsanctified heart. You may hurt others, and you doubt¬ 
less will, by speaking evil of them, but you will hurt your¬ 
self more. You may hinder their promotion; but you will 
prevent your own salvation. 

151 EVOLUTION, Argument Against 

Some writers assume that man was originally but little 
above the brutes, and has raised himself by his own efforts 
to his present state of civilization. Facts are against this 
theory. We know of no instance in which a nation has been 
elevated without the aid of outside influences. The ten¬ 
dency is in the opposite direction. Nations degenerate, and 
sink from civilization to barbarism. Such cases abound. 
Egypt was once the most civilized nation in the world. 
Now it is one of the most degraded. “Rev. S. Macfarlane, 
who has been for twenty-eight years founding churches, 
training teachers and translating Scriptures, in the south 
seas, says the natives of New Guinea have not come up out of 
original barbarism, but have clearly descended from an 
ancient civilization. They have, he says, come out of a 


86 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


bygone enlightenment and possess a language in which are 
lingual traces of Oriental superiority.” It is as true of 
nations as of individuals, that “If the light that is in thee 
be darkness, how great is that darkness!” 

152 EVOLUTION, Doctrine of, Little Proof for 

Men of learning appear to be carried away by prevailing 
fashions about as readily as common men. The doctrine of 
evolution has scarcely any claim for belief except that it 
is fashionable. The earliest records we have of the human 
family show a high state of civilization. Rawlinson, in his 
history of ancient Egypt, in speaking of Seti, who reigned 
in Egypt about 1400 years before Christ, says, “The mili¬ 
tary triumphs of Seti were outdone and eclipsed by his 
great works. The grand ‘Hall of Columns’ in the temple 
of Karnak—the chief glory of that magnificent edifice— 
which is supported by a hundred and sixty-four massive 
stone pillars, and covers a larger area than the cathedral 
of Cologne, was designed in its entirety, and for the most 
part constructed, by him; and, if it had stood alone, would 
have sufficed to place him in the first rank of builders. It 
is a masterpiece of the highest class, so vast as to over¬ 
whelm the mind of the spectator, so lavishly ornamented as 
to excite his astonishment and admiration, so beautifully 
proportioned as to satisfy the requirements of the most re¬ 
fined taste, so entirely in harmony with its surroundings 
as to please even the most ignorant. 

“Egyptian architectural power culminated in this won¬ 
derful edifice—its supreme effort—its cro>yn and pride— 
its greatest and grandest achievement; and it only re¬ 
mained for later ages to reproduce the feeble copies of 
the marvelous work of Seti, or to escape comparison by 
accomplishing works of an entirely different description. 

“The ‘Hall of Columns’ at Karnak is not only the most 
sublime and beautiful of all the edifices there grouped to¬ 
gether in such sort as to form one vast, unrivaled temple, 
but it is the highest effort of Egyptian architectural genius, 
and is among the eight or ten most splendid of all known 
architectural constructions.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


87 


153 EXHORT, Right to, a Common Privilege 

To have the right to exhort it is not necessary to have 
an exhorter’s license. The direction is general: “But exhort 
one another daily, while it is called To day; lest any of you 
be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13). 
This is to be done, not merely once a week, but daily. In 
doing this duty properly there is a double benefit: those who 
exhort and those who are exhorted are kept from being 
hardened. They are thus preserved from an “evil heart of 
unbelief.” No matter how fruitless this work may seem to 
be, it always benefits the one who, with tender solicitude, 
exhorts others. Lot had an audience of reprobates in Sod¬ 
om ; but he kept from falling into their sins because he 
“vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlaw¬ 
ful deeds.” Then exhort with all long suffering and doctrine. 

154 EXPERIENCE, Fresh 

The branch of the vine may be firmly united to the parent 
stock; it may be sound and healthy; but unless it put forth 
new wood it will bear no fruit. Grapes never grow on old 
wood. So if you want to help promote a revival of religion, 
you must get a new experience. No matter how long it is 
since you were converted and sanctified, you must get a 
new blessing if you would do good to others. Unless you 
do, your talk and your prayers may be good, but they will 
be dry. You will hinder where you wish to help. A young 
convert, who knows little about the way of salvation, com¬ 
pared with you, and whose language is not as good as 
yours, will do more good. The reason that, though he has 
less experience, it is fresh. His little pot of manna was 
gathered to-day, and so the people will eat it with him. 
Yours, laid up and carefully preserved, is a memento of 
other days, when it fell in showers. But it has been kept too 
long for present use. Beloveds, let us be renewed day by day. 

155 EXTREMISTS 

When the devil can no longer keep people asleep, he 
endeavors to push them to extremes. With him it is any¬ 
thing to hinder the work of God. When one consents to 



88 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


be led by the Spirit, then Satan endeavors ro make him 
think he is infallibly led. He who listens to the suggestion, 
soon gets into such a state that he does not want any one 
to teach him. He is, in his own estimation, so taught 
of God that he can not go wrong. Those who agree w T ith him 
and indorse him fully, he fellowships; those who do not, 
he condemns. President Edwards says: “This error will 
defend and support all errors. As long as a person has a 
notion that he is guided by immediate direction from 
Heaven, it makes him incorrigible and impregnable in all 
his misconduct; for what signifies it for poor blind worms 
of the dust to go to argue with* a man, and endeavor to con¬ 
vince him and correct him that is guided by the imme¬ 
diate counsels and commands of the great Jehovah?” 
(Works, Vol. 3, p. 365). Let us see to it that we always 
have a humble, teachable spirit. 

166 FAITH, Obedient 

That we are saved through faith is a scriptural doctrine. 
But faith, when genuine, always results in appropriate 
works. All that passes for faith, but does not lead to 
hearty obedience to the commands of God, is downright pre¬ 
sumption. “But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith 
without works is dead?” (Jas. 2:20). Many are not will¬ 
ing to know this great, fundamental truth. They shut out 
the light which God would give them, and sometimes pay 
preachers great salaries to confirm them in their delusions. 
Yet nothing is taught more clearly in the Bible, than the 
utter worthlessness of an inoperative faith. What can be 
plainer than these words of Christ?—“And why call ye me 
Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 
6:46). Why do you profess to be my disciples, and do not 
obey me? 

However great may be the physical strength of any man, 
the moment he dies he is powerless. The dead body can do 
nothing. “For as the body without the spirit is dead, so 
faith without works is dead also” (Jas. 2:26). It is of no 
value whatever. Yet with what tenacity do many cling 
to their dead faith! Reader, have you a working faith? 



PUNGENT TRUTHS 


89 


157 FAITH, Saving 

Very much that passes for faith is only the faith of 
devils. It is of precisely the same quality as the faith 
which devils have. There is not a truth of the gospel but 
that the devils believe. They have no doubts about the 
divinity of Christ, or that God answers prayer. Unless our 
faith is something more than an assent of the understanding 
to the truths of the Bible, it will not save us. The faith 
that saves goes beyond the intellect. It takes a firm hold 
of the affections and the will, “For with the heart man be- 
lieveth unto righteousness” (Rom. 10:10). Saving faith 
is a voluntary reliance of the soul on Christ. The element 
of trust enters largely into it. We may believe in an indi¬ 
vidual and yet, for various reasons, not choose to trust him. 
But Christian faith is, as Dr. Horace Bushnell well says, 
“the faith of a transaction. It is the act of trust by which 
one being, a sinner, commits himself to another being, a 
Savior. It is not mind dealing with nations, or national 
truths. It is what can not be a proposition at all. But it 
is being trusting itself to being, and so becoming other and 
different, by a relation wholly transactional.” This telling 
people that they are converted because they believe that 
“Jesus Christ is the Son of God,” only tends to deceive 
them to their eternal undoing. It is assuming a terrible 
responsibility. 

Beloveds, you need, in order to be saved, to place such 
reliance in Christ that you depend on him alone for sal¬ 
vation. You must sacrifice to him, standing, and property, 
and reputation; a»d look to him for all you need for time 
and for eternity. “So whosoever he be of you that for- 
saketh not all that he hath, he can not be my disciple” 
(Luke 14:33). 

158 FAITH AND WORKS 

Works done from selfish motives, and by one not born 
of the Spirit, have nothing saving in their character. Such 
were the works of the boasting Pharisee. We have become 
so afraid of them that we have well-nigh lost sight of the 
great truth, so clearly taught in the Bible, that our eternal 


90. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


salvation depends—not merely upon what we believe—but 
upon our actions and motives. It is not to them who live 
and die in the church that eternal salvation is promised, 
but to them who seek for it by “patient continuance in well 
doing” (Rom. 2:7). 

Paul has much to say about salvation by faith; but, 
in harmony with the. other inspired writers, he makes our 
eternal salvation depend upon our works of faith, and not 
upon any profession of faith, or mere intellectual belief of 
doctrines. 

It does not seem possible to misunderstand the words of 
Christ: “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, 
shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth 
the will of my Father which is in heaven” (Matt. 7:20). 
When profession and performance do not agree, the case 
is decided by the performance. If, then, you would gain 
Heaven, you must see to it that you not only profess Christ 
before the world, but that you do God’s will, in your con¬ 
versation, in the disposition of your time, and in the use 
you make of your property. Be not deceived. The covetous, 
no matter how much religion they may claim to have, shall 
not inherit the kingdom of God (1 Cor. 6:10). 

Read your Bibles carefully on this subject. Take a 
concordance and find the passages which speak on this point, 
and you will be surprised at the number which teach that 
our everlasting destiny depends upon our works. 

In the last chapter of Revelation we read, “Blessed are 
they that do his commandments, that they may have right 
to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into 
the city” (Rev. 22:14). 

Notice how plainly Christ teaches that our eternal life, 
or, on the other hand, our final damnation, depends upon our 
works. “Marvel not at this : for the hour is coming, in which 
all that are in the graves shall hear his voice, and shall come 
forth; they that have done good, unto the resurrection of 
life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of 
damnation” (John 5:28, 29). 

Reader, is your life consecrated to doing good? 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


91 


159 FALLOW GROUND 

When we made our garden a few years ago, we were 
saving of the ground. We had only about four acres; and 
about three-fourths of that was taken up with orchard and 
buildings. So we dug up the ground and set grape vines 
along the grass. Some of them lived, but ice never got any 
grapes from them. Seeing that with all our care they did 
not thrive, we set out, some two years later, other grape 
vines in the garden. The soil was no better, but it was 
under cultivation. These vines gave us an abundant yield 
of grapes last fall. So our peach trees in the grass have 
barely lived; but those in the garden have become large 
trees and given us fine peaches. 

We see similar results in religious matters. Some take 
the most important doctrines, and the most precious prom¬ 
ises, and put them in a heart all sodded over with worldli¬ 
ness, and wonder why they do not reap a richer harvest of 
peace and joy. The fault is not in the doctrines of in the 
promises, or in their not being properly believed, but in 
their not being received in a broken and contrite heart. 

Beloveds, break up your fallow ground, and sow not 
among thorns (Jer. 4:3). 

160 FAULT, Dealing With One in 

The directions given in case one is overtaken in a fault— 
in a trespass—should be carefully followed. The great thing 
to be done is to restore him: not to get him out of the 
church. Notwithstanding his fault, he has a soul to save, 
and those who have undertaken to help him should not give 
up so easily. If they do, it will make him more liable to 
give way to despair. It is true, he has disgraced the church ; 
but to throw him out of the church to die will not remove 
the disgrace. Saving souls is of greater consequence than 
attempting to save the reputation of the church by letting 
souls perish from neglect. 

The spiritual should undertake to restore him. The others 
are not likely to try; and if they did, it could but result in 
failure. The spiritual should be allowed to do this work. 


92 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


They should not be interfered with while obeying the Scrip¬ 
tures. If they find it necessary to get him out of the church 
in order to restore him, then he should be got out of the 
church. But in order to restore him it is not enough that 
the spiritual go about this work in good faith; they must 
do this work in a proper manner. They must restore such 
an one in the spirit of meekness. They must have a feeling 
of sympathy with those whom they would benefit. Resent¬ 
ment repels; love attracts and conquers. 

161 FAULTS Must be Acknowledged to God 

For one who has lost grace to get back to the Lord, it 
is necessary that he should see his fault, and acknowledge 
it. But all sin is blinding in its nature. This is especially 
the case with the sin of covetousness. Hence it sometimes 
happens that, in business matters, one thinks he is right 
when every fair-minded person conversant with the fact 
knows he is wrong. This is a very dangerous condition for 
a person to be in. The most skilful doctors, when sick, call 
other doctors to prescribe for them. So when one is in such 
a moral state that he calls right, where his temporal in¬ 
terests are concerned, what the spiritual call wrong, he 
should accept their decision and follow their advice. He 
needs help. He should seek it and accept it. He should 
open his eyes to his fault, make confession and restitution, 
and pray, and have the spiritual pray, for his restoration. 
Because a man has gone wrong in one thing, it is no reason 
why he should go wrong in every thing, and lose his soul 
at last. He should be more anxious for his recovery than 
a sick man is to get well. But all that others can do for him 
will not save him unless he will do his duty. To his own 
Master he standeth or falleth. 

162 FAULTS Must be Corrected in a Right Manner 

If you think some brother has done something wrong, 
have the courage to go to him and tell him his fault pri¬ 
vately and tenderly. This is Christ’s command. Obey it 
in manner, as well as in matter. It is not enough to tell 
him his fault. Christ’s word is explicit. “Go and tell him 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


93 


his fault between thee and him alone” (Matt. 18:15). 
You grossly violate this command if you tell him his fault 
publicly, in the congregation. In doing so you disobey 
Christ. You have no right to tell it to any person, until 
you tell it to the offender alone. Do not attempt to mortify 
him before others, but give him a chance to mortify him¬ 
self. Frequently those who have taken a wrong step are 
prevented from getting right by the injudicious treatment 
they receive. They are accused of much more than they 
are guilty of; and the fear of having it reported that they 
confessed to all that is said about them, keeps them from 
making any confession. Their salvation is hindered and 
great wrong is done. Some congratulate themselves for 
their fidelity in exposing sin, when, in reality, they are 
guilty of cowardice. It takes much more courage to go to 
the offender, than it does to denounce the offense in public. 

163 FAULTS of Others, Dealing with 

It is a great defect not to be able to deal with the faults 
of others with plainness without manifesting a bad spirit. 
Under all circumstances we should speak the truth in love. 
We should be decided, without being excited in the heart 
by anger. “Remember,” says Fenelon, “that real firmness 
is gentle, humble, and quiet. Anything like sharp, harsh, 
restless firmness is unworthy of God’s work. We are told 
that wisdom ‘sweetly ordereth all things’: do you the like: 
and if you ever are betrayed into acting roughly, humble 
yourselves without reserve. Confess that you are often in 
error as to manner, and in substance keep to your rule. 
In other respects you can not be too obliging or too assiduous. 
There is no manner of reading or prayer which will teach you 
so much self-renunciation as this subjection.” 

We would learn to be uncompromising without any mani¬ 
festation of roughness or self-will. 

164 FAULTS, Spying Out 

We all crave pure food and drink. But we should all 
starve if we used a microscope of great magnifying power 


94 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


to examine what we eat and drink, and set ourselves against 
taking anything except what was seen to be pure. A 
church should be pure. But the preacher who examines 
his members under a powerful microscope, and disposes of 
all in whom are found any defects, will soon find himself 
without members. It is better to use the telescope more 
and the microscope less. To give one’s attention to spying 
out the faults of others is bad business. It leads to great 
inconsistencies. Those who strain out gnats soon get where 
they swallow camels. Men sometimes leave the Free 
Methodist church because of little things which they do 
not like, and unite with a church whose position on vital 
questions they plainly see, to be radically wrong. Some of 
our straitest preachers have gone to the broadest of sects. 
t 

165 FAULT FINDING 

The most cruel criticisms upon those who are working 
in the cause of God are made by the men and the women 
who are neglecting their own duty. They are ready to 
magnify every mistake, real or fancied, of those who work; 
to make the least of their successes, and the most of their 
apparent failures. Preachers who never have revivals never 
weary of calling attention to everything objectionable in 
the methods of those who have powerful revivals. Men 
who hold on to money which they ought to give to schools 
and missions, and other salutary agencies, find fault with¬ 
out mercy with the way . these agencies are managed. But 
they are not the ones to take hold and try to help to a better 
management. Will such not learn that the greatest of all 
mistakes is to sit still and do nothing? Meroz was cursed, 
not because he carried his gun on the wrong shoulder, but 
because he did not carry it at all; he stayed at home when 
he should have gone to battle. The man with the one talent 
was cast into outer darkness, not because he had made an 
unfortunate investment of his lord’s money, but because 
he had made no investment. O ye fault-finders, beware 
lest, when your Lord come, ye be found smiting your fellow 
servants, instead of working with them! 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


95 


166 FAULTFINDERS Must not be Heeded 

No building was ever erected by part of the bands work¬ 
ing to the plan and the other part tearing down the scaf¬ 
folds on which the others work. A minister’s reputation is 
his scaffold. Destroy that, and he has no standing from 
which to build. Chronic fault-finders are chronic sinners. 
They may wear the dress of loyal soldiers, but they are 
Satan’s guerrillas. They cast off the resources, and render 
more toilsome and dangerous the onward march of those 
who are fighting the battles of the Lord. 

Grant entered the army as a captain; he ended the war 
as general of all the armies of his country. He rose, 
not by criticizing in the papers his fellow officers, but by 
showing superior skill and courage in conquering the enemy. 
There were plenty to find fault with him; but Lincoln had 
the good sense and the courage to stand by him, in spite of 
adverse criticism, when he saw that he was doing effective 
work. 

So, if your preacher is true to God, and diligent in his 
calling, give him your hearty support and co-operation. Do 
not lend your ears to those who would cripple his influence 
by lowering him in your estimation. 

167 FORMALITY in Religion 

The great danger to Christianity in this country is not 
from infidelity, but from formality. Men, to live peaceably 
together, must have some form of religion—something that 
restrains them when the eye of the officer of justice is not 
upon them. Atheism is too bleak and dreary to satisfy the 
longings of the human heart. The prospects which Chris¬ 
tianity holds out for the future are too captivating to be 
easily set aside. The objection the world makes is not to 
eternal life, but to the conditions upon compliance with 
which it is promised. So when these conditions are in sub¬ 
stance set aside, and the bliss of Heaven is promised to 
people on their own terms—when the people are persuaded 
that religion will not interfere with their business or pleas¬ 
ure—then everybody is willing to be religious. 




96 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


168 FORMS, Religious, Their Value 

All efforts to so spiritualize Christianity as to dispense 
with forms, have been utter failures. This earth is too 
material for the long-continued abode of anything wholly 
spiritual. When a human being takes the spirit form, 
he leaves this world. All our senses demand something 
tangible, though it be but a medium through which that 
which is intangible may work. Electricity diffused is un¬ 
recognized ; but concentrated, it carries our messages with 
the lightning’s speed, illuminates our streets, and propels our 
cars. “The kingdom of God is not in word, but in power” 
(1 Cor. 4: 20). But still it is a kingdom, regularly organized, 
and not anarchy. Spiritual life, embodied in proper forms, 
multiplies and perpetuates itself, and is made a blessing 
to others; but disembodied, it disappears and, as far as can 
be seen, accomplishes but little good. If, as we say, the 
arm goes to sleep, we do not cut it off, but move it about 
and restore the circulation; so, if any of the forms of re¬ 
ligion which Christ has established seem dry and dead, put 
new life into them, and they will again become of service 
to you. “Hold fast the form of sound words, which thou 
hast heard of me, in faith and love, which is in Christ 
Jesus” (2 Tim. 1:13). 

169 FORMS to be Retained 

Forms in religion are necessary. If we adore and wor-^ 
ship our Creator, there will be some mode of expressing 
our adoration and worship. Neither a stove nor a fire-| 
place can warm us; but in a house we need one or the other 
in which to make a fire which will keep us warm. The 
table and dishes do not feed us; but we need them that we 
may put on them the food that will sustain us. Getting 
down on our knees, and saying over words, does not bless 
us; but unless we kneel before the Lord and use the lan¬ 
guage of supplication, we do not receive his blessing on our 
souls. Because we do not rely on forms, that is no reason 
why we should reject and despise the forms which God has 
ordained as a means of grace. “Hold fast the form of 
sound words” (2 Tim. 1:13). 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


97 


170 FORGIVENESS, Spirit of, Must be Maintained 

To keep saved we must keep a spirit of forgiveness. No 
matter how others act, we must feel kindly towards them, and 
not cherish anything like resentment for their misdeeds. It 
may be 

“Hard to feel the stranger’s scoff, 

Hard the old friends falling off, 

Hard to learn forgiving! 

But the Lord his own rewards, 

And his love with theirs accords— 

Warm, and fresh, and living.” 

Nursing animosities is dangerous business for any one who 
has a desire to ever enter Heaven. One does not need to 
be a Christian to feel kindly towards those who do right. 

•“And be ye kind one to another, tenderhearted, forgiving 
one another, even as God for Christ’s sake hath forgiven 
you.” To forgive another implies that we think he has done 
wrong. Where we know this is the case, we must still 
be forgiving and tender-hearted towards him. 

171 FORGIVING SPIRIT 

A Christian can not hold a grudge. We must be of a 
forgiving spirit. In dealing harshly with those who have 
gone astray we may say that we give them no more than 
they deserve. That may be true, and it may not be true. 
There may be animosity nestled in the heart, the presence 
of which we have not discovered. But if there is not, still 
we should leave them, as far as is consistent with our duty, 
in the hands of God. He is the judge. 

We should be slow to condemn. 

“Though justice be thy plea, consider this— 

That in the cause of justice, none of us 
Should see salvation: we do pray for mercy; 

And that same prayer doth teach us all to render 
The deeds of mercy.” 

Our Savior’s words should be carefully studied: “So 
likewise shall my heavenly Father do also unto you, if ye 
from your hearts forgive not every one his brother their 
trespasses” (Matt. 18:35). 




98 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


172 FREE CHURCHES Needed 

Free churches are greatly needed in every city. Every 
seat in every church of Jesus Christ should be free. The 
system of renting or selling pews in houses of worship is 
wholly wrong. It is in direct conflict with the plainest 
teaching of the Word of God. It brings into the church 
some of the proud, fashionable, well-to-do people, and shuts 
out the masses. It fosters the meanest of all kinds of 
aristocracy—that based on money. It makes hypocrites 
and deceived professors instead of saints. 

The Detroit Evening News says: 

“The poorer classes—the great bulk of the people—are 
conspicuous by their absence from the most fashionable 
churches. Thus these supposed-to-be educational institu-^ 
tions are run by and in the interest of the already educated; 
for let a poorly dressed person present himself at the door 
of a church, and he is immediately met by a well-fed and 
well-dressed usher, who takes a mental inventory of the 
applicant somewhat as a hotel clerk does of a guest, and 
quickly consigns him to a back seat, which by reason of its 
poor position is ‘free.’ In the meantime, the well-dressed 
stranger is given the best seat, handed a hymn-book and, 
at the close of the services, the deacons and minister crowd 
around him and invite him to come again. The poor man 
passes out unnoticed and, in proportion as he has any self- 
respect, leaves that church alone. He sees ‘the church’ is 
supported by those of another class than his, and he imme¬ 
diately recognizes the fact that he will be nothing but an 
interloper. 

“Not only are most of the churches and the people 
drifting away from each other, but the number of converts 
made in proportion to the money expended is so ridiculously 
small that if these establishments were run on business 
principles they would go into bankruptcy. Some of these 
converts cost $1,000 apiece, some even more than this, and 
some less. Doubtless a soul is priceless, therefore, no cost 
is too great; but when a church saves one soul and, by 
reason of its exclusiveness and its departure from the 
teachings of Jesus, turns a dozen from Christianity, would it 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


90 


not be better if the church were closed? Yet this is what 
many of them do.” 

God has raised up the Free Methodist church to remedy 
these evils. But it is easier to denounce wrong practises 
than it is to correct them. We find it very difficult to ob¬ 
tain a foothold in our cities. Property is high. It costs 
a good deal of money to buy the ground on which to build 
a plain church. Those who indorse our principles, and be¬ 
lieve that the fashionable churches are all wrong, seem 
content with giving us their indorsement, and the fashion¬ 
able churches their money. And then they wonder why the 
Free Methodists do not increase more rapidly! 

173 FREE CHURCHES in Wesley’s Day 

Free churches are an essential part of Methodism. A 
religious aristocracy, which virtually excludes the poor, 
has no right to style itself a Methodist church. John Wes¬ 
ley, in his “Thoughts Upon Methodism,” says, “From the 
beginning men and women sat apart, as they always did 
in the primitive church; and none were suffered to call any 
place their own; but the first comers sat down first. They 
had no pews; and all the benches for rich and poor were 
of the same construction.” Mr. Wesley began the service 
with a short prayer; then sung a hymn and preached, (usu¬ 
ally about half an hour), then sung a few verses of an¬ 
other hymn, and concluded with prayer. His constant 
prayer was, salvation by faith, preceded by repentance, and 
followed by holiness. 

174 FREE CHURCHES: Effect of Pew Selling 

Selling the right to the occupancy of a seat in a house 
dedicated to God, is destroying the foundation of all spirit¬ 
ual worship in that house. It is a formal inauguration of 
Mammon as master of ceremonies. The Spirit of God 
is put under restraint. It can no longer have free course 
there. Nothing must transpire calculated to offend the 
taste of those who have the money to buy the seats. They 
have purchased the right to dictate how God shall be 
worshiped there: and their wishes are generally anticipated 



100 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


before they are expressed. Great care is taken that the 
influential, wealthy sinners, who have condescended to give 
their patronage to the house of God, shall have no cause 
of complaint. As they generally affect refinement, whether 
they possess it or not, the singing must be artistic. The un¬ 
cultivated saints must keep silence; and men and women 
trained to operatic singing, perform this part of public wor¬ 
ship under the inspiration of money or vanity. 

The utterances of the pulpit, too, must be toned down to 
please the ears of unsaved men. A faithful declaration of 
the whole counsel of God is out of the question. Popular 
sins must be ignored, and those truths alone must be pre¬ 
sented which are of a nature to give no offense. 

“If the foundations be destroyed, what can the righteous 
do?” To leave the edifice altogether is the only remedy 
left. “From such turn away.” 

175 FREEMASONRY a Foe to Christianity 

He that does not know the location of rocks in a channel 
through which he must pass, is not fit for a pilot: so he 
who does not know what stands in the way of the work of 
God is not fit to lead and direct the work of God. 

Any one who is willing to learn, can easily learn that 
Freemasonry is a rival and a deadly foe to the Christian 
religion. It is as clearly proven as any fact can be, that 
Freemasonry is a religion, with its priests, its baptism, and 
its ritual—that it promises to save from sin in this life, 
and to save the soul in the life to come—that it rejects 
Christ, and puts the Bible on a level with the sacred books 
of the heathen; and, finally, that it offers salvation by 
works. 

Ignorance on this subject is without excuse. 

176 FREEMASONRY Anti-Christian 

It has been demonstrated to a certainty that the sys¬ 
tem of Freemasonry, as practised in this country, is an 
anti-Christian religion. Yet many who profess to be Christians, 
and even Christian ministers, belong to its lodges. They ac¬ 
knowledge the validity of its horrid, barbarous oaths. Many 


V «> I, 
*> <1 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


101 


more who do not belong to it refuse utterly to examine into 
its character. They support Masonic preachers, take the 
sacrament at their hands, and stand connected with churches 
which are so far controlled by its influence that they do 
not dare to bear testimony against it. If Freemasonry is 
what Bernard and Stearns, and Finney and Ronayne and 
Blanchard, and others have proved it to be, then no one 
who wishes to be a true Christian should stand connected, 
or have any fellowship whatever with churches that shelter 
and foster this powerful and insidious enemy of the re¬ 
ligion of Christ. We may unite with such people in put¬ 
ting down saloons, in raising barns and repairing roads, 
but not in holding meetings for the purpose of getting sin¬ 
ners converted to God. Never. Such people themselves 
need to get converted to Christ. What concord hath Christ 
with Belial? 

177 FREEMASONS AND MORMONS Compared 

Freemasonry is just as completely an anti-Christian re¬ 
ligion as Mormonism is. Does the former have a Bible on 
the desk of the lodge? The latter has one on its pulpit in 
its temple at Salt Lake, and its preachers often take a text 
out of it to preach from. Does the latter practise polygamy? 
The former makes provision for the protection of the virtue 
of the mothers, wives and daughters of the members of the 
craft only. All other women are unsheltered by its oaths. 

Do Freemasons stand connected with Christian churches, 
occupy Christian pulpits, cater to Christian prejudices, and 
flourish on salaries paid by Christian people? Doubtless 
Mormons would do the same if their cause was sufficiently 
popular to enable them to do so. 

Do Freemasons claim an antiquity dating back to the days 
of Solomon? The Mormons claim that polygamy had its 
origin in the infancy of the human race. 

The Mormons formally accept Christ: but grand lodges 
of the Freemasons have judicially decided that prayers 
offered in the lodge in the name of Christ are unmasonic. 
In Masonic rituals the name of Christ is expurgated from 
passages from the New Testament which they quote. A 


102 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Christian, then, has no more right, as such, to support a 
Masonic preacher than he has a Mormon. 

178 FREEMASON REVIVALISTS Should Not be Assisted 

If Masons are conducting revivals, or holding religious 
meetings, you should have nothing to do with them. You 
need inquire no further. The work they do must be super¬ 
ficial. They may make many converts; but they heal 
slightly. You aid such work at your peril. “Shouldest thou 
help the ungodly, and love them that hate the Lord? there¬ 
fore is wrath upon thee from before the Lord” (2 Chron, 
19:2). 

You may help a Masonic preacher, if he will permit you 
to help him, get to the Lord. Before he attempts to convert 
others he should himself be converted. You should not give 
him countenance as a minister of Jesus Christ until he has 
“renounced the hidden things of dishonesty, not walking in 
craftiness, nor handling the word of God deceitfully” (2 
Cor. 4:2). That will take and keep any man out of the 
lodge. If you stand by compromisers you will yourself be¬ 
come a compromiser. Remember Ananias and Sapphira. 

179 FREE METHODIST CHURCH, Friend of the Poor 

The Free Methodist church is a friend of the poor. It 
teaches that the grace of God, which brings salvation, is 
free for all. It requires that all the seats in all its houses 
of worship shall be free —as free as the grace it preaches. 
We know no other church, except the Friends, which, from 
principle, excludes all caste from its houses of worship. 
Most denominations have some free churches from policy. 
Others have some free seats; but the residents of the place 
are seldom willing to advertise their poverty or their 
penuriousness by occupying these free seats with regularity. 
Many people do not go to church because they are not 
able to dress in fashion. They can not appear as the con¬ 
gregation generally do, and so stay away. The Free Meth¬ 
odist church requires all its members to dress plain. So 
plain people need not be afraid to attend church with them. 
Christ said, “The poor have the gospel preached unto them.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


103 


If they do not hear the gospel where Free Methodists have 
churches, it is their own fault. They need not stay away 
because they do not wish to rent a seat, or because they 
can not wear fine clothes. Let them come as they are. 
They will be cordially welcomed. 

180 FREE METHODIST CHURCH Must Keep the Old Way 

God has called the Free Methodist church to keep alive 
among men the remembrance of the days of simplicity, 
plainness and spiritual power. We must be true to our 
calling. While there is much of activity in the churches, 
it is, for the most part, on the line of civilization, rather 
than on that of Christianity. Little is done that the nat¬ 
ural man can not do. Worldly schemes and worldly policy 
are relied upon to secure the prosperity of the church. 
And they succeed in building up a worldly organization, 
which styles itself a church of God. But few of the so- 
called converts are even scripturally awakened. We must 
not be drawn, by their seeming success, into any of these 
plans of worldly policy. Let us stick to gospel work and 
gospel methods. Let us never unite in revival efforts with 
any who do not do clean work for God. 

181 FREE METHODIST PREACHER Must Have Settled Convictions 

A Free Methodist preacher who has not settled con¬ 
victions that the truths to which we give special emphasis 
are important truths of the Bible, has no business among 
us. He will do us more hurt than good. Those who are 
weak will be still more unsettled under his labors. If he 
makes converts, the most of them will go to other churches. 
If he believes that men can be good Christians and belong 
to the lodge, and women can be saints and be adorned like 
the world, he should study the Bible, and seek the help of 
the Spirit, till he gets established in the truth. He should 
then hold it up so clearly and strongly that those who hear 
him preach shall understand that they can not serve God 
and love the world at the same time. If he has convictions, 
he should be true to his convictions. But if he leans to 
the popular Christianity of the times, he will sooner or 



104 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


later fall where he leans; and the sooner he does it the 
better it will be for all concerned. It would have been 
better for Judas to have forsaken Christ as soon as he 
found out that his kingdom was not of this world. He 
who seeks religion for its worldly advantages should go 
to the richest and most worldly church he can find. 

182 FREE METHODIST: Prejudice Against the Term 

It is quite surprising to what extent the bad feelings 
of some are stirred by the word “Free Methodist.” The 
sight of it or the sound of it seems to bring an instant change 
over their spirits. They want their children converted, but 
not at a Free Methodist meeting. One widow woman took 
her son, a wicked young man, from the altar of one of our 
churches. He went from bad to worse and soon landed in 
State’s prison. 

The same degree of spiritual power which is often mani¬ 
fested in our meetings, when no one can be persuaded to 
make a start for the kingdom, would, in other churches, re¬ 
sult in the going forward or standing up of a large number. 
This is owing in part to prejudice, and in part to the feeling 
that they can obtain salvation on easier terms in other 
churches than they can in the Free Methodist church. We 
must insist upon it more clearly, and more strongly, that 
Christ has made the conditions of salvation the same for all. 
and the same in all places. This that men and women get 
in the popular churches, without abandoning their sins and 
renouncing the world, whatever it may be, is not the saving 
grace of- God. 

183 FREE METHODISTS, a Separate People 

The Free Methodists are a nation by themselves. God 
raised them up to be such. Wherever they are true to their 
calling, they prosper. When they try to be like other peo¬ 
ple they get swallowed up. Just to the degree that other 
churches are conformed to the world, we should keep clear 
of them. 

True Christians are not of the world, “But ye are a 
chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a pe- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


105 


culiar people; that ye should show forth the praises of 
him who hath called you out of darkness into his mar¬ 
velous light; which in time past were not a people, but 
are now the people of God” (1 Pet. 2:9). That such is 
the character of the popular churches, none but one who is 
utterly blind can claim. Spurgeon says : 

“I sometimes fear that the only age to which we can 
be truly likened is the time before the flood, when the sons 
of God intermarried with the daughters of men, and when 
there ceased to be a distinction between the church and the 
world. It is but the part of candor to acknowledge that 
there is such a mixture nowadays, such a compromise, such 
a giving and taking on both sides of religious questions, 
that we are like a leavened mass, mingled and united to¬ 
gether. All this is wrong; for God has always intended 
there should be a distinction between the righteous and the 
wicked, as clear and as palpable as the distinction between 
the day and the night.” 

184 FREE METHODIST, The, Suggestions to Contributors to 

The excellency of our paper is due largely to the excel¬ 
lent articles contributed from week to week. They are 
from men and women who feel the fire burning in their 
hearts. They are in earnest and write in earnest. We 
hope they will continue in well doing. And others, who do 
not write, could help on the cause by writing short, pointed 
articles, full of the Holy Ghost and fire. 

We can not publish everything that is sent us, because 
we do not consider it suitable for our columns. We may 
err in what we admit, and in what we reject; for we 
make no claim to infallibility. We simply use the judg¬ 
ment God gives us. 

We venture a few suggestions to our writers, attention 
to which will help secure admission of their articles: 

1. Be certain of your facts. If they are questionable, 
give the authority. It will not do to assume that every¬ 
thing is true that you see in the papers. There is much 
misrepresentation going on. 

2. Avoid all offensive personalities. Most persons are 


106 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


very sensitive over what they see in a paper, reflecting un¬ 
favorably upon them. 

3. Do not use any slang words or phrases. A paper 
should educate its readers to use a pure language. 

4. Write short. Leave out everything that can be left 
out without obscuring the sense. 

5. Verify your quotations from the Scriptures, and 
give the exact language of the* texts you quote. If you 
endeavor to prove your positions by quotations from others, 
give the place where the quotation can be found, so that 
those who choose to do so can verify it. 

6. Avoid a controversial spirit. It is not necessary to 
review every statement which you can not accept. Gen¬ 
erally, the best way is to state the truth, and let the truth 
correct all errors to which it is opposed. The Scriptures 
are remarkably free from controversial writing. 

7. Write on subjects of practical importance—subjects 
that will help souls to get to Heaven. Ours is a religious 
paper; we want to have it intensely religious; therefore, 
many practical subjects are not suitable for our columns. 
But there are plenty of religious topics of great impor¬ 
tance, and of practical bearing, to occupy all our space. 
Confine yourselves to these. “Till we all come in the unity 
of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto 
a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness 
of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). Then we may indulge in specu¬ 
lations. One of our devoted, earnest preachers writes: 

“Now but few read these long continued articles touching 
the millennium. They are nothing but opinions, and prove 
nothing; therefore, of what use can they be? I would not 
raise the question of piety in these brethren. Will the 
millennial theory as ventilated help us to comfort the sick 
and afflicted ones about us? Will the idea of a Christ 
coming one thousand years sooner, or later, assist us to 
lead souls to the Christ who came 1888 years ago?” 

185 FRETFULNESS Discouraging 

“Fret not thyself because of evildoers” (Ps. 37:1). If 
not because of evil-doers, then because of whom may we 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


107 


fret? Shall we fret because of those who do well? Would 
this be right? Are not those who are doing the best they 
can entitled to good treatment? If we give them censure 
when they are entitled to praise, do we not discourage them? 
Are we not guilty of injustice? Often it makes a person 
feel worse to be robbed of'his good name than it does to be 
robbed of his money. Children are sometimes driven to 
desperation by the fretfulness of a parent. They get so 
tired of being constantly found fault with in little things 
that they seek to put themselves beyond the reach of the 
tormenting tongue. A fretting master is not likely to have 
good servants. 

186 FRETFUXNESS to be Put Away 

If fretting does no good—if it has neither reason nor 
revelation for its support—then should every child of God 
put it away, now and forever. “Cease from anger, and for¬ 
sake wrath: fret not thyself in any wise to do evil” (Ps. 
37:8). In its mildest form anger is wrong. Fretting men 
and women are gradually wearing their lives away. 

If you have fallen into this bad habit, be determined 
to cure yourself of it. Resolve against it; fight against it; 
pray against it. Get your heart filled with humble love. 
Take a personal interest in every one with whom you have 
to do, especially in those who render you any service. Con¬ 
sider them, for the time being, as in a measure belonging 
to you. Try to do them- good, to make them feel good—to 
render them more happy in time and in eternity for having 
come in contact with you. 

187 FRIENDSHIP Ties Must Not be Broken 

If you are tempted with a brother, you will naturally 
conclude that he is tempted with you. To one who looks 
through green glasses, everything looks green. A ball 
dropped lightly, rebounds lightly. A slight touch in shaking 
hands, is answered with a slight touch in return. If you 
avoid a brother, especially a preacher, at a public gathering, 
where many take his attention, the devil will try to make 
you think that he shuns you. If he knew how you were 


108 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


tempted, he might take pains to speak to you, but he does 
not, and so, without his intending it, not a word passes 
between you; and your suspicions are strengthened that he 
has something against you. If you would take the pains, 
you would find out that the trouble is wholly with yourself. 
“A man that hath friends must show himself friendly” 
(Prov. 18:24). A friendly spirit, manifested in words and 
acts, makes friends. Try it. A selfish, suspicious, envious 
spirit alienates friends. Do not try it. 

Our most valuable earthly acquisitions are our friends. 
They multiply our joys, and divide our sorrows. They add to 
our happiness and our usefulness. They help hold us up 
in slippery places and encourage us to be true and upright. 
We can not afford to lose a single one. Even Job’s friends, 
though they were wrong in their theories, and so proved 
miserable comforters, drew from him some of the most 
sublime utterances that ever fell from human lips, and 
doubtless contributed towards the turning of his captivity. 
Bind your friends to you by the daily strengthening cords 
of acts of kindness. The great preventive of the needless 
alienation of friends is the charity that thinketh no evil. 

188 GENTLENESS 

The tenderness of Paul was not assumed for effect; but 
it sprung from a deep and genuine love, which drew the 
hearts of Christians in strong affection toward him. To 
the Thessalonians he wrote: “But we were gentle among 
you, even as a nurse cherisheth her children: so being af¬ 
fectionately desirous of you, we were willing to have im¬ 
parted unto you, not the gospel of God only, but also our 
own souls, because ye were dear unto us.” It was this 
spirit that enabled Paul to go among the enemies of the 
cross, and preach the gospel, without any appropriation or 
any financial backing whatever. Its effect in our day will 
be similar. Compassion in the preacher will touch the chords 
of sympathy in the hearers. The way may seem dark for 
a time, but if he is true to God, the clouds will give way 
and deliverance will come. Like Paul, he may be sometimes 
“in weariness and painfulness, in watchings often, in hunger 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


109 


and thirst, in fasting often, in cold and nakedness” (2 Cor. 
11:27). But if he remains true, God will stir up some of 
his servants to send help; and he will be able to say, “But 
I have all, and abound: I am full, having received of 
Epaphroditus the things which were sent from you, an odour 
of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well pleasing to 
God.” A man that gives the people dead sermons and dry 
exhortations, in however loud a tone they may be delivered, 
may expect neglect; but “he that watereth, shall be watered 
also himself.” 

189 GENTLENESS, The Greatness of 

Strong words and exaggerated expressions furnish no 
evidence of unusual depth of piety. It is not the dog that 
barks the loudest that bites the hardest. 

The Psalmist says, “Thy gentleness hath made me great” 
(Psa. 18:35). That is no ordinary gentleness which God 
imparts. David attributes to it a power to elevate, above 
that found in talent and courage without it. God’s stand¬ 
ard of greatness is not that generally recognized among 
men. Man cries out, 

“See, the conquering hero comes. 

Sound the trumpet, beat the drums.” 

But God declares, “He that is slow to anger is better 
than the mighty: and he that ruleth his spirit, than he that 
taketh a city” (Prov. 16:32). 

Be gentle— gentle with the perverse—gentle under provo¬ 
cation. Be not led away by those who talk strong but show 
a wrong spirit. “These are murmurers, complainers, walk¬ 
ing after their own lusts; and their mouth speaketh great 
swelling words, having men’s persons in admiration be¬ 
cause of advantage” (Jude 16). 

190 GENUINE EXPERIENCE 

Inferior wood will answer for parlor furniture that is 
to be veneered, and kept mainly for show and to be used 
with care; but when material is wanted for hard service, as 
for a plow beam or the keel of a ship, good, solid, sound 


110 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


timber is demanded. In timber for such uses, facility to re¬ 
ceive a polish is no compensation for inability to endure a 
strain. So a superficial piety will enable one to appear re¬ 
spectably at the ordinary services conducted from a fash¬ 
ionable pulpit, and to take an active part in the festivities 
furnished in the popular church parlor. But when it comes 
to the stern duties of life, and the sterner realities of the 
dying hour, a different kind of piety is needed. Nothing 
else will serve those purposes well but the old-fashioned, 
rapidly disappearing religion of the Bible. A few hard rubs 
in real life make veneered piety look shabby and worthless. 
It is not worth repairing, though much labor is wasted in 
patching it up. It is much better to get a genuine experience. 

191 GIFTS OF GOD Imitated 

One striking evidence that God answers prayer to the 
healing of his children, as promised in the Scriptures, is the 
diligence with which Satan gets up his imitations. To one 
Moses there were several magicians. Elijah stood alone for 
God, while the prophets of Baal were four hundred and 
fifty. Mormonism, Spiritism, and lastly “Christian Science,” 
falsely so-called, each in turn professes to heal the sick. 
They all derive their power from the same source as did 
the magicians who withstood Moses—from the enemy of all 
righteousness. We live in the days foretold by the Revelator, 
and the “spirits of devils, working miracles, go forth unto 
the kings of the earth, and of the whole world, to gather 
them to the battle of that great day of God Almighty.” 
But let us, steadfast in the faith, resist all these influences 
of Satan, and not give up a single truth of the Bible, be¬ 
cause of the counterfeits of the devil; and let us not be 
pushed by him to any extreme not warranted by the Word 
of God. That this self-styled “Christian Science” is closely 
related to the sorceries of Simon Magus, is evident on its 
very face; for its advocates not only think, but openly teach, 
“that the gift of God may be purchased with money” (Acts 
8:20). They form classes, and undertake to teach, for a 
stated, liberal sum of money, the art of healing by Divine 
power, to all who will pay their stipulated price. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


111 


Beloveds, shun all such mercenary deceivers, as you 
would shun the devil. Have no dealings with them. Do 
not suffer yourself, in the slightest degree, to come under 
the influence of these “raging waves of the sea, foaming 
out their own shame; wandering stars, to whom is re¬ 
served the blackness of darkness for ever.” God bestows his 
gifts according to his sovereign will. “For to one is given 
by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of 
knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same 
Spirit; to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit.” 
These gifts are not taught by men or women for money. 
“But all these worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, 
dividing to every man severally as he will” (1 Cor. 12: 
8, 9, 11). 

192 GIVING, Rule for 

We should give to the cause of God freely. The Jews 
gave a tenth. Many of the early Christians gave all. The 
rule for each Christian is to give “as God hath prospered 
him” (1 Cor. 16:2). What is given out of love to Christ, 
can not fail of having its reward. 

193 GOD, Delight in 

A saint delights not in his gifts or graces, but in his 
God. The language of his heart is: “Thou hast made 
known to me the ways of life; thou shalt make me full of 
joy with thy countenance” (Acts 2:28). 

“And while thou dost smile upon me, 

God of wisdom, love and might, 

Foes may hate and friends disown me: 

Show thy face and all is bright.” 

“True saints,” says President Edwards, “have their minds, 
in the first place, inexpressibly pleased and delighted with 
the sweet ideas of the glorious and amiable nature of the 
things of God. And this is the spring of all their delights, 
and the cream of all their pleasures; it is the joy of their 
joy. This sweet and ravishing entertainment which they 
have in view of the beautiful and delightful nature of di- 


112 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


vine things is the foundation of the joy that they have 
afterwards, in the consideration of these being theirs.” 

Though starvation stared one of the old prophets in the 
face, he declared: “Yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will 
joy in the God of my salvation.” 

194 GOD’S ABILITY TO PROVIDE 

God, in addressing his people, frequently styles himself 
the lord almighty. We should have an exalted opinion of 
his power. He is able to put down, not only one enemy, but 
all enemies. One king, or a thousand kings leagued against 
him, can not stand before him. In his own time, and in his 
own way, he removes them from the field of action. He 
brings to desolation the mightiest nation that exalts itself 
against him. The ground on which the great Babylon once 
stood was, for ages, unknown. Her proud palaces were 
buried under the sands of the desert. 

He who makes the Lord his refuge has nothing to fear. 
The resources of the Almighty are boundless. He can feed 
his people in the desert wilderness, as well as in the Land 
of Promise. Their one care should be to hear and obey his 
commands. Elijah, sent into the wilderness by the Lord, is 
fed by the ravens; sent to the city,, the widow, herself on 
the verge of starvation, finds an abundance in caring for the 
servant of the most high. 

195 GOD’S MESSAGE Should be Delivered 

One whom God sends with a message should always 
deliver the message. It may accomplish the end designed, 
and it may not. For this the messenger is not responsible. 
But he is responsible for its faithful delivery. It may be 
a “savour of life unto life” or “of death unto death.” That 
depends upon how it is received. Paul and Barnabas said 
to the Jews: “Seeing ye put the word of God from you, 
and judge yourselves unworthy of everlasting life, lo, we 
turn to the Gentiles” (Acts 13: 46). But this did not prove 
that God had not sent them to the Jews. They did their 
duty faithfully, and in a right spirit, and then God sent 
them into a more promising field. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


113 


Dr. Adam Clarke says, “God never sends any man on a 
message without giving him such directions as shall pre¬ 
vent all mistakes and miscarriages, if simply and implicitly 
followed.” 

196 GOD’S ORDER Best 

He came to Dakota and took up land for his boys. He 
had a nice farm and a good amount of stock; but the boys 
are grown up and do not want to run the farm. They 
would rather teach or do some other work in town. Now he 
is left alone with a large farm on his hands which he does 
not know what to do with. He can not sell it to advantage. 
If he hires men to carry it on, they do not work to amount 
to much unless he is with them. He would like to devote 
his time to preaching, to which God called him when young; 
but how to get at it he does not know. If he fills appoint¬ 
ments as a local preacher, it takes about one-third of the 
week to go and come. In the meantime the days and weeks 
are passing by, his life-work is left undone, and another is 
taking his crown. 

It is an easy thing to get out of God’s order. It is 
difficult to get into it again. Difficulties multiply, oppor¬ 
tunities pass away, and life is gone. Oh! who will follow 
the Lord fully to the end? 

197 GODLY LIVES a Source of Conviction 

There is power in the godly lives of the saints, which 
forces upon sinners a conviction of the truth of Christianity. 
They may resist, but they are convinced. 

Dr. Chamberlain, a Christian physician in India, says 
that a native Hindu, high in caste, in wealth and social po¬ 
sition, sent for him to treat him for an ailment. The ail¬ 
ment was trifling, and he found that he had been sent for, 
in reality, to talk about Christianity. In the course of 
their conversation, the official said, “Sir, I am not a Chris¬ 
tian. I am still regarded as a devout Hindu. I still per¬ 
form enough Hindu services to avoid suspicion. But in my 
heart I dare not deny the claims of the Bible. I see the 
power of Jesus Christ in the lives of his followers so dis - 


114 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


tinctly that I can not deny his divinity. He is not yet my 
Savior. Caste, wealth, family, position, all hold me back. 
But even now I never allow him to be spoken against in 
my presence. I have long been reading the Bible in se¬ 
cret The more I read of Christ, and ponder over his life 
and teachings, and the power to conquer sin that comes from 
embracing his religion, the more I feel that in the end I 
shall have to accept him, at any cost, as my personal Savior. 
But how can I do it and bring ruin upon my family?” 

Brother, sister, are you living so that you keep those 
around you under conviction? 

198 GOSPEL for the Poor 

When John sent to know if Jesus was the Messiah, his 
disciples were told, “Go and show John again those things 
which ye do hear and see: The blind receive their sight, 
and the lame walk, the lepers are cleansed, and the deaf 
hear, the dead are raised up, and the poor have the gospel 
preached to them” (Matt. 11:4, 5). Human systems seek 
the patronage of the rich; the crowning proof of the divine 
origin of the gospel is the fact that it is preached to the 
poor. Dr. Stephen Olin, one of the greatest preachers of 
his day, said, “The gospel is preached to the poor—to the 
masses. It is made for them—it suits them. Is it not for 
the rich—for the cultivated—the intellectual? Not as such. 
They must become as the poor—as little children—as fools. 
They must come down to the common platform. They must 
be saved just like so many plowmen or common day-la¬ 
borers. They must feel themselves sinners—must repent— 
trust in Christ, like beggars—like publicans. Sometimes we 
hear men prate about ‘preaching that will do for common 
people, while it is good for nothing for the refined and the 
educated/ This is a damning heresy. It is a ruinous de¬ 
lusion. All breathe the same air. All are of one blood. 
All die. There is precisely one gospel for all; and that is 
the gospel that the poor have preached to them. The poor 
are the favored ones. They are not called up. The great 
are called down. They may dress, and feed, and ride, and 
live in ways of their own choosing; but as to getting to 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


115 


Heaven, there is only God’s way—the way of the poor. 
They may fare sumptuously every day, but there is only one 
sort of manna.” 

199 GOSPEL for the Poor—Free Churches 

The gospel of Jesus Christ is a gospel for the poor. It 
was given to them. It was meant for them. Christ says: 
“Cojne unto me, all ye that labor, and are heavy laden.” He 
never once gives such an invitation to the rich. On the 
contrary, he declares: “Verily I say unto you, That a rich 
man shall hardly enter into the kingdom of heaven” (Matt. 
19:23). 

Then the edifice in which the gospel is preached should 
be built plain, and with all the seats free, with special ref¬ 
erence to meeting the wants of the poor. Bishop Morris, 
of the M. E. church, one of the godly men of the past genera¬ 
tion, says: “Where churches are built in costly style, with 
pews to rent or sell, the poor, who are unable to build, buy, 
or rent, are virtually excluded from houses of worship, and 
must worship without the means of grace, or worship out 
of doors, or meet in small companies in their own dwell¬ 
ings. Pewed churches are intended to accommodate select 
congregations; and a thinly attended house is therefore a 
natural, if not necessary, part of the system. It begins, 
progresses, and terminates in aristocracy.” Therefore, do 
not give churches in which they sell or rent pews, any coun¬ 
tenance or support. 

200 GOSPEL: Progress Slow 

When the gospel is preached in its purity it makes slow 
progress at first. It did in the primitive church. It did 
among the early Methodists. Of Fredericktown, Virginia, 
Bishop Asbury remarked: “At last, after more than thirty 
years’ labor, the Methodists have a house of worship here, 
and thirty souls in fellowship.” Reaching Holstein, Tennes¬ 
see, and finding a gracious revival in progress, he wrote: 
“Fourteen or fifteen times have I toiled over the mighty 
mountains, and nearly twenty years have we labored upon 


116 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Holstein, and lo! the rage of wild and Christian savages is 
tamed, and God hath glorified himself.” 

But when the standard is lowered and the bars let down, 
in comes the world with a rush. Godless ministers rejoice, 
hell triumphs, and angels weep. Splendid church edifices are 
reared, instruments of music admitted, fairs and festivals 
inaugurated, and fun and frolic are the order of the day. 
They entertain the godless, but they murder souls! ”0 my 
soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, 
mine honor, be not thou united.” 

201 GRACE Through Faith 

We are saved by God. He alone can deliver us from the 
power and from the penalty of sin. When a prisoner is 
tried and found not guilty, the judge sets him free, because 
he deserves freedom. He owes his deliverance to the ad¬ 
ministering of justice. When a 'convicted criminal is par¬ 
doned by the governor, he owes his liberty to the exercise 
of mercy. So we are saved by grace. We pray God to blot 
out our transgressions, “because of the multitude of his 
tender mercies.” The Pharisee went away unforgiven—he 
relied upon his own goodness; the publican went down to 
his house justified—he relied upon the mercy of God. 

In using our Lord’s Prayer, the plea is for forgiveness. 
The only claim we make for anything that can be called 
merit is, that we ourselves show mercy—“And forgive us 
our debts, as we forgive our debtors.” This is something 
that requires neither learning nor talent, nor strength, nor 
wealth. The poorest and the weakest can be merciful and 
forgiving, and penitent. The sacrifices of God—that is, the 
sacrifices which he prizes above all others—are a broken 
spirit and a contrite heart. These the poorest and weakest 
can bring. 

Thus, though we are saved by grace through faith, yet 
the faith that saves is not fruitless. Every step taken 
towards God in faith, leaves behind it a plain track dis¬ 
cernible by all. To those who appeared to seek God, John 
the Baptist cried out, “Bring forth therefore fruits meet 
for repentance.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


117 


202 GRACE Tested 

We never read of drovers being robbed while going to 
market with their cattle, but when they have got the money 
for them they are sometimes followed hundreds of miles by 
villains, watching for an opportunity to rob them. One man, 
who had been followed two days and two nights on the 
train, was finally knocked off the platform as he was going, 
after dark, from one car to another, and robbed. So Satan 
follows those who have been to the Lord and received great 
spiritual blessings from his hands, to rob them, if possible, 
of their blessings. It was a wonderful token of God’s favor 
when there came a voice from Heaven, saying to Jesus, “This 
is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased.” But imme¬ 
diately after was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilder¬ 
ness, to be tempted of the devil. A similar experience awaits 
his disciples. Preachers are in special danger after God 
has signally blessed their labors. A great revival some¬ 
times ends with the fearful backsliding of the man by whose 
labors it was chiefly carried on. We need to watch and pray 
always, but most of all after having been greatly blessed 
with a baptism of the Spirit. Satan will make his attacks 
upon us; but if we resist him firmly, he will flee from us. 

203 GRACE Transforms 

We grow out of self only as we grow into Christ. 
Changes in any other direction, are only changes from one 
form of depravity to another. Iron may be changed into 
steel which is capable of receiving as high a polish as 
silver. But it can never be turned into silver. Human 
nature may be highly refined; but it is only as it is made 
a partaker of the divine nature that it undergoes that 
transformation by which it becomes truly holy. 

204 GRIT VERSUS GRACE 

Said a preacher, when mildly expostulated with by one 
of his members for his denunciatory expressions from the 
pulpit, “I want you to understand that I am going through 
on grit.” In a short time he did go through his pulpit 
and through hjs church. He took his place among those 


118 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


who make no pretensions to grace. The vein of grit does 
not appear to be very thick. A self-willed man can soon 
work his way through it; and then he finds himself in the 
“horrible pit of miry clay.” The more he flounders in it, 
the deeper he sinks, until he falls at last into the bottomless 
pit from which none ever escape. Beloveds, do not mis¬ 
take consecration to your own will for consecration to God: 
do not think you are led by the Spirit of God, when it is 
clear to others that you are actuated by a spirit of re¬ 
sentment. 

205 GROWTH IN GRACE 

No one should be satisfied with his present attainments. 
Christ is the portion of his people, but he will continue to 
satisfy their hearts only as they continue to grow in grace 
and in the knowledge of the truth. Life and growth are 
essential to fruit bearing. Dead trees do not have foliage 
or fruit. The fruitless fig-tree was cursed. Let us see to 
it that we bear much fruit: so shall we be his disciples. 

206 HABITS of Great Men Not to be Imitated 

Young men who, from reading accounts of the habits 
of some of our great generals, are tempted to drink and 
smoke, would do well to bear in mind that in consequence 
of those habits these very generals came prematurely to 
their graves. Knowing this fact, it is a matter of surprise 
that literary men should be so fond of parading before their 
readers the fatal habits of the heroes they celebrate. The 
two greatest of our generals, who came out unscathed from 
the hardest battles fought in our Civil War, died in the 
midst of the enjoyment of the laurels they had won, from 
the diseases brought on by tobacco and by convivial habits. 
The young men of this generation should heed the warning 
which speaks out silently and solemnly from the premature 
death of many of our great men. If the poison of the cigar 
and of the wine-cup takes off those whose strong constitutions 
have been hardened by toil and exposure, how can those 
who lead a comparatively sedentary life hope to escape with 
impunity. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


119 


207 HEALING, Prayer of Faith for 

Because the sick are sometimes healed in answer to 
prayer, it does not follow that they will always be healed 
by this means. While it is true that “the prayer of faith 
shall save the sick” (Jas. 5:15), yet no one can, at will, 
offer the prayer of faith. This kind of prayer is specially 
inspired by the Spirit, whenever it is offered. Even Paul 
could not offer it when he pleased, or he would not have left 
Trophimus at Miletum sick (2 Tim. 4 : 20). Among spiritual 
gifts which God divides to every man severally as he wills, 
is the gift of healing (1 Cor. 12:11). Those who make 
formal prayers can pray as requested. But when one prays 
in the Spirit he must pray as the Spirit gives him utterance. 
So when it is the will of God, in any particular instance, to 
heal the sick, he will give to one who lives in the Spirit to 
pray the prayer of faith. Dorothea Trudel, the modern 
apostle of healing through faith, and in answer to whose 
prayers hundreds were healed, herself died on her knees 
while praying, when only about thirty-eight years old. 

If a person who claims to have faith in God for the 
body, sickens and dies without a doctor, what an ado is 
made about it! It goes the round of the papers; and it 
seems to be assumed that he died for want of medical at¬ 
tendance. Why is not an equal clamor raised over those 
who die in the hands of the doctor? The cases are far more 
numerous and distinguished. A few years since, Secretary 
Bayard’s daughter took a common cold, through wearing 
a fashionable dress, at a fashionable reception. The father 
promptly called the doctors in whom he had most confidence, 
but in their hands she dropped away like a flower at the 
touch of frost. 

A little later, Mr. Rice, a millionaire, in the strength 
of manhood, just appointed minister to Russia, was attacked 
with soreness in the throat. He was at his home in New 
York City, and the best medical skill that the country af¬ 
fords was employed, but in a few days he died. 

Recently, the son of Secretary Blaine, in the vigor of 
early manhood, died under the care of Washington doctors. 
Similar cases are constantly occurring. Why are they not 


120 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


brought forward as proof of the folly of having faith in 
doctors? 

A lady of sound sense, in affluent circumstances, has had 
much sickness in her family. She has tried eminent phy¬ 
sicians far and near. Recently she said to us: “I have lost 
faith in doctors so completely that now, when any of my 
family is taken sick, it never comes into my mind to call a 
doctor. I do not think of them any more than if there 
were no doctors.” 

Who can say that strong faith in God, careful nursing, 
simple remedies, and needed rest, are not more efficacious 
in restoring health than doctors and drugs? Yet after you 
have done the best you can, if help is not realized, we can 
not say you should not call a doctor. 

We should carefully observe the rules of health, and so 
avoid sickness. We should have a steady faith in God for 
soul and for body, for temporal and for spiritual blessings. 
But we should not needlessly put ourselves under bondage. 
We should not say that we will never call a doctor or take 
medicine. We should, under all circumstances, leave our¬ 
selves free to act according to the light that God gives us 
for the occasion. 

208 HEART SEARCHING for Discouraged Preachers 

I am sorry that you find things in so discouraging a 
condition—the church cold, some of the members back¬ 
slidden, sinners indifferent, congregations small, and but 
little interest manifested in religion. This is a sad state 
of things, but it is by no means uncommon. It is no new 
thing for Christians to backslide. Some went back to 
the beggarly elements of the world in the Apostle’s days, 
and the fatal fashion has had followers ever since. 

Bad as matters are, they are not hopeless. God still 
lives. His Word has lost none of its efficacy. It is still 
quick and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword. 
Try that. Begin with your own heart. Probe it thor¬ 
oughly. See if you have not compromised; or been want¬ 
ing in self-denial, or received honor of men. Seek to dis¬ 
guise it as he may, he who was once successful in saving 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


121 


souls, but fails now, month in and month out, is back¬ 
slidden, more or less, from God. His power is gone. If 
this is the case with you, own it to yourself. Do not at¬ 
tribute your failure to circumstances. Lay it to its true 
cause—your want of grace. Then, whatever else you do, 
get the grace that will make you conqueror. Humble 
yourself before God. Ask until you receive the baptism of 
the Holy Ghost and of fire! Then pour the truth red-hot 
upon the consciences of professed Christians. Get them 
to breaking down and confessing. Then God will manifest 
among you his power to save. The people will come to¬ 
gether. God will give you love for their souls. Give to 
each a portion in season. Proclaim God’s law and vindicate 
its claim. Preach Christ, warning every man, and instruct¬ 
ing every man in all wisdom, that you may present every 
man perfect in Christ Jesus. You can not take this course 
and fail. God will be with you. There are some honest 
souls who will receive the truth. When all get saved who 
will, in one place, go to another. Make a bold strike for 
salvation. Have faith in God and live wholly for him, and 
failure will be out of the question. Your temporal wants 
too, will be supplied. The infinite resources of the Almighty 
Savior are pledged to this. He fed Elijah by the ravens— 
unclean birds—and he can make those care for you who 
are yet unsaved. “Seek ye first the kingdom of God and 
his righteousness, and all these things shall be added un¬ 
to you.’’ 

209 HELL on Earth 

Perilous time are upon us. The papers record the most 
revolting, unheard-of crimes. Going to hell? Why, hell 
is coming to earth. It is here already. Demons from the 
pit, in human guise, would hardly seem capable of greater 
atrocities than are committed by men brought up within 
easy reach of the best and most elevating influences. Preach¬ 
ers would abolish hell; Satan is showing them that it can not 
be done. Hell has enlarged itself, and is extending its 
borders to their very midst. It is time for the people of 
God to cry out. Soft speeches and pretty phrases should 


122 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


be laid aside. The most energetic expressions, the most 
awakening language, are demanded. Tremendous earnest¬ 
ness from all God’s preachers and people is now in order. 
Where are the sons of thunder? Where are those who weep 
between the porch and the altar? 

210 HOLINESS by Faith 

At Denver, Colorado, while waiting for the train, we 
conversed with a young man who had been to Fountain to 
attend the conference. We knew he had been seeking the 
blessing of holiness. So we inquired : 

“What blessing did you receive?” 

“I hardly know,” he replied; “I was very much 
blessed.” 

“Were you clearly justified when you went forward?” 

“Yes.” 

“What did you ask for?” 

“For the blessing of holiness.” 

“You received something?” 

“Yes, a great blessing; but I am afraid to say it is the 
blessing of holiness, lest I be deceived.” 

“If you asked your grocer for sugar, and paid him the 
price of it, you would have no hesitation in saying you had 
it, though you did not see it put up. Christ says, ‘ What 
things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive 
them , and ye shall have them * Believe that you receive 
them. Not something else—not an imitation, but the pre¬ 
cise things that ye ask for. When then, being clearly justi¬ 
fied, we pray for holiness and receive a great blessing, we 
should believe that we receive what we pray for. We dis¬ 
honor God by doubting it. If we are indefinite in our pro¬ 
fession, we shall soon be uncertain in our experience.” 

“I see it,” he exclaimed; “I have the blessing of holiness, 
God does sanctify me wholly. I feel it like electrical fire all 
through my body, to the very ends of my fingers.” 

He praised the Lord in the depot and went on his way 
rejoicing. 

Many doubt away the blessing that they receive in an¬ 
swer to prayer, until they form such a habit of doubting 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


123 


that it seems next to impossible for them to hold on to what 
God does for them. Have faith in God. 

211 HOLINESS Hates Wrong 

True holiness implies, among other things, hatred of all 
wrong. In this it differs from mere amiability. One di¬ 
rection of the Apostle to the brethren, given after he be¬ 
seeches them to present their bodies a living sacrifice to 
God, is, “Abhor that which is evil” (Rom. 12:9). Again, 
“Ye that love the Lord, hate evil” (Ps. 97:10). One can 
not do this and be popular. Let a Roman Catholic priest 
hate the saloon, and make vigorous war upon it, and no 
parish will want him. Some able, godly Methodist Epis¬ 
copal preachers have made issue with Freemasonry, that 
great rival of Christianity; but their appointments kept 
growing poorer, until they felt compelled to leave the regu¬ 
lar work of the ministry. True holiness is the active,'un¬ 
compromising enemy of all wrong. False holiness opposes 
that only which it is popular to oppose. After the battle 
against wrong is fought and won, it very vigorously de¬ 
nounces the wrong. True holiness takes part in the battle, 
and is not given to boasting when it is won. 

212 HOLINESS, Spurious, Does Not Antagonize Evil 

A holiness that does not take a plain and decided stand 
against popular sins is not the holiness of the Bible It 
may have many things about it that are commendable. 
Brass highly polished, to one ignorant of values, looks to 
be worth more than gold. So, spurious holiness is more 
current in the world, and among worldly professors, than 
the genuine. It is not so troublesome. It deals in com¬ 
mendations, almost never in reproofs. It is silent in the 
face of anti-Christian practises that are popular. If it 
speaks against worldly conformity, it is in such an indefi¬ 
nite manner, and in such general terms, that no one is 
convicted. If it bears testimony against the lodge, it is 
so mildly that none are offended. 

God’s Word is: “Abhor that which is evil.” “Ye that 
love the Lord hate evil.” The saint of God exclaims, “I 


124 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


hate and abhor lying; but thy law do I love” (Ps. 119:163). 
Reader, is your whole influence exerted against that 
which you know to be wrong? 

213 HOLINESS Must be Commended by the Life 

If you would commend the cause of holiness to others, 
be careful to commend it by your life. Profess out all that 
God does for you. “For with the heart man believeth unto 
righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto 
salvation” (Rom. 10:10). But be able to appeal, as did 
the Apostle, to those among whom you live, to testify that 
your life is in harmony with your profession. “Ye are 
witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblamely 
we behaved ourselves among you that believe” (1 Thess. 
2:10). Let all with whom you have dealings, feel that they 
can place the utmost confidence in you. An old writer says, 
“Sin indulged in a believer, is like a rent in a richly em¬ 
broidered garment; or like a crack in a silver bell. A foul 
spot is soonest discerned in the fairest cloth. The world 
will sooner make an excuse for its own enormities than 
for your infirmities.” 

214 HOLINESS, Profession of, Opposed 

While we should commend holiness by our lives, we 
must not make the mistake of supposing that true holiness 
will secure general commendation for us. A few saints 
may give us their qualified approval, but the world and 
worldly professors will generally oppose us. This we are 
taught by both Scripture and reason. “Woe unto you, when 
all men shall speak well of you! for so did their fathers 
to the false prophets” (Luke 6:26). “Which of the proph¬ 
ets have not your fathers persecuted?” (Acts 7:52). “Yea, 
and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer 
persecution” (2 Tim. 3:12). 

This is the kind of treatment we might expect a truly 
holy person would receive, when we consider two things: 
(1) Everywhere sin and wrong-doing abound. (2) A truly 
holy person must, in every proper way, bear his testimony 
and give his influence against sin and wrong-doing. So did 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


125 


Christ. So did Paul. So did the holy martyrs. It got them 
into trouble. A similar course will get the most loving and 
gentle and prudent man or woman into trouble at the 
present day. On this account many who begin to lead holy 
lives draw back, and then gradually settle down into popular 
holiness, which is as unlike the genuine as brass is unlike 
the gold it is polished to- represent, as a basswood stick is 
unlike a file of hardest steel. 

215 HOLINESS, Practical 

True holiness will manifest itself perhaps more clearly 
in making a bargain than in making a prayer. It leads 
its possessor to look out for the interests of another, as 
well as his own. It does not take advantage of the weak¬ 
ness or ignorance of others. It deals as honorably with 
a woman or a child as with a keen, experienced man of 
business. Job, in maintaining before his fellow men his 
integrity, says: “I was eyes to the blind, and feet was I 
to the lame” (Job 29:15). Where one with whom he was 
dealing could not see an advantage that of right belonged 
to him, and Job could, he made it known to him. The 
holiness that does not lead to the strictest integrity in all 
business matters is of no value whatever, as far as saving 
the soul is concerned. It is altogether spurious. It has 
not the seal of God upon it. One who has true holiness 
has ingrained in his very being the rule laid down by our 
Savior: “Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that 
men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is 
the law and the prophets.” 

216 HOLINESS, One Can Not Have, and Get Mad 

If you get mad, you have lost the blessing of holiness— 
if you ever had it. Nothing can be clearer. You may be 
naturally quick-tempered: that makes no difference. The 
very design of Divine grace is to correct what is wrong 
in our dispositions. If it does not do that, it does not do 
anything for us. We are mistaken in supposing we have it. 
We have taken up with a worthless imitation, offered to us 


126 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


on easier conditions than those we must meet in order to 
obtain the genuine. 

Charity beareth all things, endureth all things. Charity 
is not provoked. This is what the Bible says. The word 
easily, found in our common version (1 Cor. 13:5), is not 
in the original. If you have not, then, this grace that keeps 
you from getting mad, your religion is of little worth. It 
will not take you to Heaven. No matter how high pro¬ 
fessions you make, or how well you talk, you are but “as 
sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.” It is an awful thing 
to be deceived. 

217 HOLINESS Must be Clearly Preached 

A preacher can not keep clear in the blessing of holi¬ 
ness unless he preaches holiness clearly. A shining light 
must be permitted to shine. Put a cover over it and it goes 
out. Water keeps pure by running. A working man keeps 
strong by working. To one of his young preachers John 
Wesley wrote: “As long as you give yourself up to God 
without reserve, you may be assured he will give you his 
blessing. Indeed, you have already received a thousand 
blessings: but the greatest of all is yet behind—Christ in a 
pure and sinless heart, reigning the Lord of every motive 
there. It is good for you to hold fast what you have at¬ 
tained, and to be continually aspiring after this; and you 
will never find more life in your own soul than when you 
are earnestly exhorting others to go on unto perfection. 
Many will blame you for doing it; but regard not that; go 
on through honor and dishonor. ‘This one thing I do,’ is 
your motto. ‘I save my own soul, and them that hear me.’ ” 

218 HOLINESS to be Definitely Preached 

All our preachers should preach holiness clearly and 
definitely. It is not enough to preach it in a general way. 
Whole sermons should be devoted to the subject. Every 
person in the congregation should be made to see his obli¬ 
gation to be holy. It should be presented doctrinally, ex¬ 
perimentally, and practically, in all its scriptural aspects. 

John Wesley, in writing to one of his female preachers, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


127 


says: “You can never speak too strongly or explicitly upon 
the head of Christian perfection. If you speak only faintly 
and indirectly, none will be offended and none profited. But 
if you speak out, although some will probably be angry, yet 
others will soon find the power of God unto salvation. 

“Speak to all, and spare not. Be instant in season, out 
of season: and pray always with all perseverance.” 

If you are not able to speak on the subject from a 
present experience, then get the experience. Set about it 
earnestly, at once. 

219 HOLINESS: Standard Must Not be too High 

We may as well not preach holiness at all as to place 
the standard higher than God has placed it. You had 
better save your ammunition than to shoot at the sun. 
God requires us to be Christian men and women, not 
angels. Never let go your hold upon a round in the ladder 
of Heaven until you grasp firmly another round above it. 
Many a hard fall has been experienced by grasping at some¬ 
thing beyond the reach. 

220 HOLINESS: Standard to be Kept Up 

It is worse than useless to try to make true holiness 
popular. You may as well try to make flowers bloom in 
an arctic region, out of doors, in the winter. You would 
lose your flowers and lose your labor. To make holiness 
popular with worldlings is to destroy it. Ice, when warmed, 
does not remain ice; holiness, when brought down to the 
tastes of the ungodly, is no longer holiness. Sugar and 
alcohol are composed of the same elements. There is a 
small difference in the quantities of these elements in these 
two substances. But there is a vast difference in the two 
substances that result. So you put a little less of abhor¬ 
rence of wrong, and a little more of worldly conformity, and 
a little more willingness to apologize for wrong-doing, into 
holiness, and you have a species of Jesuitism, as unlike holi¬ 
ness as alcohol is unlike sugar. 

Hold up the standard of holiness where Christ placed it, 
and do not try to make it popular. 


128 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


221 HOLINESS, Regaining the Blessing of 

If you have lost the blessing of holiness, there is just 
one way to regain it. That is, by repentance, and con¬ 
fession, and faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. You will never 
get it by any reformation of conduct. You may do just 
right now, and act as if you had never lost it; but you will 
not regain it in that way. You must confess to the Lord 
your loss, and ask him to restore unto you the joy of his 
salvation. It is not enough to seek more power. That will 
do but little good. You must be willing to humble yourself 
before God, and acknowledge that you have grieved his 
Holy Spirit. Any confession that he lets you see you should 
make to any person, or in public, you should humbly make. 
The Bible way to get up is to go down. “He that humbleth 
himself shall be exalted.” 

222 HOLINESS and Heaven 

Heaven is a reality, hell is a reality, holiness is a reality. 
If you were going to an imaginary Heaven or hell, then 
an imaginary holiness might answer. But Heaven is a 
real place, a solid, substantial world, inhabited by holy be¬ 
ings who never die, and who never become depraved. If 
you would go there you must become like them. Your 
character must be in harmony with the inhabitants of 
Heaven, or you could not be happy in their company. 
Rutherford, a devout Scotch Presbyterian, said, “This cross 
hath let me see that Heaven is not at the next door, and 
that it is a castle not soon taken. I see also that it is 
neither pain nor art to play the hypocrite.” “Make tight 
work at the bottom, and your ship shall ride against all 
storms, if, withal, your anchor be fastened upon good 
ground, I mean within the veil.” Let your prayer be, 
“Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right 
spirit within me.” Expect to have the prayer answered. 

223 HOLINESS, Real 

The holiness which God requires is real and not imag¬ 
inary. It does not consist in a belief that because Christ 
is holy, and we believer in him, God will consider us as 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


129 


holy though we are positively unholy. This delusive but 
damning doctrine is quite popular. Sin is no fiction; it 
will be punished in every one in whom it is found. Holi¬ 
ness is not an imaginary but an actual attribute of God’s 
children. How clearly is this expressed by the Apostle! 
“And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth him¬ 
self, even as he is pure” (1 John 3:3). This does not 
admit of a single exception. Every man ; this takes in every 
one who professes to have a hope in Christ, no matter 
what may be his creed or church! If the hope is well 
founded, it results in personal purity. Reader, have you 
this hope? 

224 HOLINESS Counterfeited 

We must always bear in mind that true humility is an 
essential element of true holiness. We can not be proud and 
be holy at the same time. The two qualities are not merely 
antagonistic, but, like light and darkness, the one is de¬ 
structive of the other. If pride prevails, holiness dies; if 
holiness prevails, pride dies. The holiness that pleads for 
pride is hollow and worthless. It is- not scriptural holiness. 
It is a counterfeit, more attractive to the world and to carnal 
professors, it may be, than the genuine article; but never¬ 
theless a counterfeit, that never will gain admission to 
Heaven. For several years past the cause of holiness has 
been coming up in public estimation; and hence dangerous 
counterfeits are afloat. We must be on our guard against 
them. We should try them by the Word. If anything that 
passes for holiness has not all the marks which the Scrip¬ 
tures Lay down as belonging to it, thefi it is worthless. Re¬ 
ject it. 

225 HOLY, Be Ye 

When you see a man that does not care to learn, you 
may be assured that you see a man who never learned much. 
Knowledge begets a desire for knowledge. So grace begets 
a desire for grace. Not to want to be holy is a very clear 
sign that one is destitute of saving grace. Says Caughey: 
“It would not require much argument to prove that those 


130 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Methodists who do not enjoy holiness, nor are pressing after 
its attainment, either have never been converted, or have 
fallen from a justified state; and further, that they are in 
peril of that threatening, ‘so then because thou art lukewarm, 
and neither cold nor hot, I ivill spue thee out of my mouth.' ” 

Reader, are you making it the main business of your life 
to follow holinessf If not, you have just ground to be con¬ 
cerned. Begin at once to seek for a holy heart. God’s com¬ 
mand is, “Re ye holy." 

226 HOLY SPIRIT: First Need in Trouble 

Spiritual influences are invisible to mortal eyes, but they 
are powerful. We need the Spirit of God more than w T e 
need money, more than we need learning. He is introduced 
to us in the Bible at the very beginning of the history of the 
creation, as the all-powerful agent by whom order was 
brought out of confusion. “And the earth was without form, 
and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep. 
And the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters” 
(Gen. 1:2). 

If there is trouble and confusion in the church, and all 
looks dark and discouraging, the first thing you need is, not 
a church trial, but the moving of the Spirit of God upon 
the hearts of the people. Secure this, and they will cease 
from their dissensions, light will banish darkness, and each 
person will begin, as if by instinct, to take his proper place. 

227 HOLY SPIRIT Necessary 

Instrumental music is not necessary to draw the masses. 
Crowds can be collected without fifes, or drums, or fiddles, 
or cymbals. The early Christians adopted no means of 
the kind to gather congregations. They had something 
more attractive. It was not eloquence, but it was a noise— 
a noise produced by the Holy Ghost in men. “Now when it 
was noised abroad, the multitude came together” (Acts 
2:6). The Revised Version has it, “And when this sound 
was heard, the multitude came together.” It was this 
sound that drew them. That was the secret. 

There is something wonderfully attractive in this 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


131 


sound at the the present day. In whatever church it is 
heard there will be a congregation. The minister may be 
learned, or he may be ignorant; he may be eloquent, or he 
may be slow of speech; that does not seem to have much 
to do with the matter. The preacher has little to do with 
it, only as he ministers the Spirit to others. If only the 
people of God are filled with the Holy Ghost, the room 
will soon be filled with people. But there must be no put¬ 
ting on appearances. All must be real. Noise made for 
the sake of noise, is generally repulsive. But when the Holy 
Spirit fills the hearts of God’s people with “joy unspeak¬ 
able and full of glory,” or when he enables them to pray 
“with groanings that cannot be uttered,” there is some¬ 
thing that fills the meekest with awe, and draws them to 
the place where the saints are assembled. 

228 HOLY SPIRIT, No Substitute for 

A preacher can not possibly find any substitute for the 
Holy Ghost. There is not the slightest use in trying. 
Eloquence and argument, anecdote and wit, may entertain 
and even convince, but they can not convict. If you would 
have souls truly converted to God under your labors, you 
must have God with you. It is said that an African chief, 
a heathen, after hearing Bishop Taylor, went away, say¬ 
ing,-“He is God’s man, sure.” This is the impression which 
every minister of the gospel should make. Whatever else 
the people think of him, they should feel that God is with 
him. Those who truly love God will be drawn to him: 
those who hate God will hate him. They will go away and 
talk about him; but they will come back to hear him. 
There may not as many profess religion under his labors, 
as often do under the labors of one who compromises and 
works for policy; but more men and women will be truly 
born of the Spirit and fitted for Heaven. 

229 HOLY SPIRIT, Restraint of the 

The wicked are not wholly destitute of the Spirit of 
God. Bad as they are, they would be much worse were it 
not for his restraining influence. Many a hand that has 


132 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


been raised to kill, has been held back by the unseen power of 
the Divine Spirit. Men who never listen to a sermon, or 
read a good book, often hear a still, small voice endeavoring 
to persuade them to abandon their sins and lead a better 
life. It was to those who were hopelessly wicked that God 
said: “My Spirit shall not always strive with man” (Gen. 
6:3). When he ceased to strive with them, sudden de¬ 
struction came upon them. So do not be afraid to go to the 
very wicked with words of warning and with offers of 
mercy. The Spirit of God has gone before you and pre¬ 
pared the way. Gain the confidence of a wicked man, so 
he will speak freely with you, and you tvill be astonished 
to find how much God has been talking to him. The Spirit 
has been striving with him when those who knew him sup¬ 
posed he was utterly hardened. 

230 HONESTY 

Honesty lies at the bottom of the Christian character. 
No matter what one believes; no matter how zealous 
he may be for the church, and how much he may pay for 
its support; no matter how high his professions may be, 
if he is not thoroughly honest at heart and in his business, 
his religion is absolutely worthless. Integrity is one part 
of the righteousness which God requires of every human 
being. Little acts of dishonesty grieve the Spirit, and he 
who commits them, left without support, falls into grievous 
sins. In looking over our books I was struck with the fact 
that most of the preachers “who went out from us, that 
they might be made manifest that they were not all of us,” 
have an unpaid account. In some cases these bills are 
quite large. Another thing we notice. We frequently get 
letters from those who have been owing us for years for the 
Earnest Christian, inclosing the pay. They tell us that the 
Lord has reclaimed them, and blessed them, and they are 
led at once to pay their debts. You need never be afraid 
of such leadings. They are always of the Lord. In fol¬ 
lowing them you will never go astray. Be honest with God, 
honest with your preacher, honest with your publisher, 
with your neighbors and with all with whom you have any 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


133 


business transactions. However some may hate religion, 
compel them to say that you are honest. 

231 HONESTY, We Should be Able to Prove Our 

“Provide things honest in the sight of all men” (Rom. 
12:17). This is one of the practical directions which the 
Apostle gives to those whom he has exhorted to “present 
their bodies a living sacrifice” to God. A genuine, deep 
religious experience makes us more careful and con¬ 
scientious in all the concerns of life. We must not only 
be honest, but we must make provision so that if necessary 
it can be shown to all men that we are honest. We should 
not only do right in business matters, but be able to show 
that we do right. Especially is this the case where we do 
business for others. If you pay out money for another 
person, or for a society, always take a receipt for it. It 
will greatly help the cause of God for Christians to do 
business in such a way that their honesty can not be suc¬ 
cessfully questioned. 

232 HONESTY in Religion 

Honesty in religion, as well as honesty in business, is 
required of every Christian. Men may succeed in obtaining 
money under false pretenses; but they can not gain Heaven 
in that way. There must be no deceptions, no shams, no 
putting on appearances not warranted by realities. We 
must not give our public adherence to doctrines which we do 
not heartily believe. If we are Arminians we must not join 
the Calvinists, no matter how much larger salaries they 
may promise, unless we want God to damn us. Not that 
men will be damned for being Calvinists; but they will 
be damned for acting a lie. While our name is with a 
church our hearts should be with it; and we should labor 
to build it up, and not merely to build ourselves up on it, 
and at its expense. 

If we believe that Freemasonry is an anti-Christian re¬ 
ligion we should not support Masonic preachers, though they 
be eloquent and apparently zealous for the church. 

God requires truth in the inward parts. 


134 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


233 HONESTY Characterizes a True Christian 

Honesty is not religion, but the right kind of religion 
makes all who possess it honest. A true Christian carries 
a sensitive conscience into all matters of business. He does 
not misrepresent, nor exaggerate, nor conceal, for the sake 
of any personal advantage. His word can be depended upon. 
This is the plain teaching of the Bible. It lays the greatest 
stress upon the principle of honesty. “He that is unjust 
in the least is unjust also in much” (Luke 16:10). Our 
Discipline lays proper stress upon this principle when it 
forbids contracting debts without the probability of paying. 
It is better to turn an old garment inside out, and upside 
down, to darn and patch it, than to go into debt for a new 
one. Let us be careful to have “always a conscience void 
of offence toward God and toward men.” 

234 HONESTY, Heart 

A man may be honest without being a Christian; but he 
can not be a Christian unless he is honest. Creeds may 
differ; but all who have any just claim to the Christian 
name are alike in being governed, in all business mattefs, 
by downright integrity. 

Bishop Thomas Wilson, of England, wrote one hundred 
fifty years ago: “A man who borrows money which he 
knows he can not repay, plainly takes advantage of his 
creditor’s ignorance of his circumstances. It is probable 
he may fancy himself less guilty than if he had stolen so 
much or taken it by force; but he would not think so if 
the laws had made these two crimes equally penal, as they 
are in fact equally unjust in the sight of God and man.” 

A brother who, for the last twenty years, has published 
religious books and periodicals, told us the other day that 
he was obliged to stop publishing because the religious peo¬ 
ple owe him so many thousands of dollars in small amounts 
which he could not collect. 

No matter what may be the profession, if a man’s re¬ 
ligion does not make him honest it does not save him. He 
As still a child of wrath—an heir of hell. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


135 


235 HONESTY, Principle of 

No amount of praying, no excess of zeal for sound 
doctrines, will atone for dishonest practises. He who wrongs 
his fellow man sins against God. He who obtains money 
by false representations, is, if he professes to be a Chris¬ 
tian, a false pretender. The principle is not affected by 
the amount which is sought to be gained. Our Savior lays 
down the principle in these words: “He that is unjust in 
that which is least is unjust also in much.” This does not 
excuse those who run off with thousands of dollars of other 
men’s money intrusted to their care, but it classes with them 
the man who defrauds another of a few dollars or a few 
cents. In all business transactions a true Christian is 
strictly conscientious. The Apostle teaches us that one must 
not only pay to others the money that belongs to them, but 
the respect to which their position or their age entitles 
them. This is the rule as he lays it down: “Render there¬ 
fore to all their dues: tribute to whom tribute is due; 
custom to whom custom; fear to whom fear; honour to 
whom honour” (Rom. 13:7). Pay your taxes; do not de¬ 
fraud the government by smuggling goods; render due def¬ 
erence to those in official position; and be respectful 
towards all. 

The custom of some good people, not to take off their hats 
in the presence of any one, may have been in its day a 
testimony against servilely cringing to kingly authority, 
but in this country it is without significance. It has neither 
Scripture nor reason for its support. On the contrary, it is 
in plain violation of the command, “Honour all men” (1 
Pet. 2:17). 

236 HUMILITY 

Cincinnatus showed his magnanimity of soul not more in 
the deliverances he wrought out for his country, than by 
his unwavering loyalty and patriotism after he had retired 
to private life. To be true to his country he did not need to 
be in office, or to be expecting an office. So if one is a true 
Christian, principle will weigh more than any personal con- 


136 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


siderations. He is not fit for a class-leader who leaves the 
church because he is not made class-leader. It was a fallen 
angel who declared that it is 

“Better to reign in hell, 

Than to serve in Heaven.” 

Our Lord says, “But he that is greatest among you 
shall be your servant. And whosoever shall exalt himself 
shall be abased; and he that shall humble himself shall be 
exalted” (Matt. 23:11, 12). But there must be no sham 
humility. 

237 HUMBLE, The, Secure Christ’s Presence 

The presence of Christ in a congregation met for worship 
does not depend upon the place in which they are assembled. 
The character of the edifice has nothing to do with it. The 
place may be an upper room, it may be a log house—it may 
be a cathedral. This has not the slightest influence in se¬ 
curing the presence of Christ. The sunshine in a house 
depends, not upon its construction, but upon the opportunity 
the sunshine has to get in. So the manifested presence of 
Christ in a meeting depends upon the humble, consecrated 
souls who are willing to receive him. He comes as a King 
to rule, if he comes to stay. As such he must be received. 
From the proud and the self-willed he turns sadly away. 
With formalists and hypocrites he has no more sympathy 
than he had when he denounced in such burning words the 
scribes and the Pharisees—the men of the greatest literary 
and the men of the greatest religious pretensions. He makes 
his abode with the poor in spirit, and the pure in heart. 

238 HUMBLING YOURSELF, Need of 

If the work of God does not move, on your circuit, as 
powerfully as it should, and you have failed in the use 
of other means, suppose you try one that I have never 
known to fail—humbling yourself, with your people, be¬ 
fore the Lord. “The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit” 
(Ps. 51:17). These sacrifices he always accepts. When 
they are laid upon his altar he answers by fire. The Holy 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


137 


Ghost falls upon those who offer them. Others are touched, 
and the work breaks out anew. 

Under Wesley’s preaching, the work in London, at one 
time, came to a standstill. He says, “We met at Fetter 
Lane to humble ourselves before God, and own he had 
justly withdrawn his Spirit from us for our manifold un¬ 
faithfulness. We acknowledged our having grieved him by 
our divisions—one saying, ‘I am of Paul,’ another, ‘I am 
of Apollos;’ by our leaning again to our own works, and 
trusting in them instead of Christ; by our resting in those 
little beginnings of sanctification which it had pleased him 
to work in our souls; and, above all, by blaspheming his 
work among us—imputing it either to nature, to the force 
of imagination and animal spirits, or even the delusion of 
the devil. In that hour we found God with us as at the first. 
Some fell prostrate upon the ground; others burst out, as 
with one consent, into loud praise and thanksgiving; and 
many testified, openly, that there had been no such day 
as this since January 1, preceding.” (Works, Vol. 3, p. 140). 

A spirit of division will stop the most promising re¬ 
vivals; so if you have taken hold of anything concerning 
which saints may properly sustain a different opinion, and 
have pushed it to such an issue that you have got the people 
to discussing it, and taking sides about it, you should con¬ 
sent to see your mistake, call a meeting of the society and 
make your confession so humbly, and so sincerely, that 
others will catch the spirit, and the work of God among 
you will break out afresh. Oh, it is so hard to get down, 
and keep down, where God can use us all the while! 

How often, even among us, is the work of God hin¬ 
dered by “imputing it either to nature” or to “the delusion 
of the devil.” Good societies have been broken up in this 
way. What if some do find fault because some of the 
saints get blessed and act peculiarly? When you get every¬ 
thing down to a dead respectability, to please a few who 
affect superior refinement, these very persons will not come 
near your meetings. They will have nothing to do with 
you. They do not care anything about your fine sermons. 
They did not know what it was that drew them to your 


138 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


services; but it was the Spirit of God, which you have 
grieved and driven away by persecuting those who gave 
themselves up to follow as he leads. Oh, in how many 
places a Fetter Lane confession is needed! Look at the 
matter candidly, and see if there is not help in this direction. 

“What are our works but sin and death, 

Till thou thy quickening Spirit breathe?” 

Let us look at once for the quickening Spirit throughout 
all our borders. 

239 HURRIED SPIRIT, Avoid a 

Do not get hurried. Let your feet and your hands 
make haste, if necessary, but let your spirit be calm and 
quiet. If you find that you are getting hurried, stop short, 
cool down, and take matters deliberately. Things done 
hastily are often done improperly. They frequently have 
to be done over again. Sometimes a day is nearly lost 
by getting in a hurry. What is still more, a valuable friend 
is lost by hasty words, uttered in a hasty manner. Worst 
of all, sometimes one loses his religion by giving place to 
a hasty spirit. If you feel biting words struggling for 
utterance, hold them in, as with a bit and bridle. Put out 
unholy fires while they are smoldering. If allowed to 
break out they soon get beyond control. 

240 HYPOCRITES 

A hypocrite is one who pretends to be what he knows he 
is not. Hypocrites are not confined to the churches. They 
are found everywhere. 

There are many business hypocrites—men who put on 
every appearance of being honest, while they are secretly 
planning to rob their fellow men. We have known several 
instances of men who for years had such a reputation for 
honesty that many, who had money that they did not wish 
to use at present, would put it in their hands for safe-keep¬ 
ing, in preference to depositing it in the banks. After a 
while they would fail or run away to Canada with the 
money. Facts would come out which would show clearly 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


139 


that they had been dishonest all along. There are men of 
downright business integrity. Such men may not prosper 
as fast as others; but their prosperity is much more lasting. 
And it does not end in destruction. “The prosperity of 
fools shall destroy them” (Prov. 1:32). 

241 HYPOCRITE. Religious 

A religious hypocrite is the worst of all. Almost every 
week the papers give an account of some one who has fled 
from the country, taking with him some other man’s wife 
and the money which had been entrusted to his care by a 
bank, or by the county, or city, or some confiding employer. 
In some cases these men belong to the church and are ac¬ 
tive workers in the Sunday-school. The man or woman 
who is secretly living in adultery or theft, and yet profess¬ 
ing godliness, has good reason to fear all the horrors of 
double damnation. In many cases they begin to feel, even 
here, the torments of the damned. The gnawings of the 
worm that dieth not become so intolerable that they di¬ 
vulge their guilty secret in the hope of finding relief. 

“Now conscience wakes despair 
That slumbered; wakes the bitter memory 
Of what he was, what is, and what must be.” 

The word of the Lord to all such is: “Hell from beneath 
is moved for thee to meet thee at thy coming. How art thou 
fallen from heaven, O Lucifer, son of the morning!” 

“Lucifer” means light-bearer, from lux , light and fero , 
to bear, to carry. This applies with intensest force to 
backslidden ministers. 

242 IMPATIENCE 

Inability to govern the temper is an indubitable evidence 
of a lack of grace. A Christian should never yield to 
anger. “Whosoever is angry with his brother shall be in 
danger of the judgment” (Matt. 5:22). The words found 
in our common version, “without a cause,” are not in the 
best original manuscripts. They should be omitted. “Love 
is not provoked” (1 Cor. 13:5). The word “easily” is not 


140 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


found in the original, and has no business in our trans¬ 
lation. 

Upham says: “It is important to make a distinction 
between sorrow and impatience. We may feel sorrow with¬ 
out sin, but we can never feel impatience without sin. Im¬ 
patience always involves a want of submission: and he who 
is wanting in submission, even in the smallest degree, is not 
perfect before God.” The Spirit of God dwelling in us 
makes us long-suffering. 

243 IMPORTANT QUESTION, The 

That you become a sincere Christian is to you a matter 
of the greatest concern. No other interests can compare 
with the interests of your soul. The question for you to 
settle is not one of creeds and ceremonies, but one of sal¬ 
vation or damnation. As sure as you are a living soul, the 
day of wrath will come, and then, if out of Christ, you 
will be left without refuge. 

244 IMPRESSIONS, How Decide Character of 

One way by which you may tell whether an impression 
not in conflict with the Bible is from God or not, is this: 
If it is from God, as you think of obeying it you will feel 
encouraged; you will have clearer light, and your love 
will burn with increasing ardor. However difficult it may 
be, it will look easy to you. But, on the other hand, if it 
is from Satan, you will feel depressed and discouraged. 
It will seem to you that you must give up sometime, and 
you may as well give up now as ever. They that wait on 
the Lord to know his will, renew their strength; they that 
wait on Satan grow weak and feeble. As you take up the 
cross of Christ it lifts you up; as you bear the burdens of 
Satan they crush you. 

245 INDIFFERENCE, Religious 

A great religious awakening is the great want of this 
country. Death reigns. The prevalent condition of the 
people is one of religious indifference. The multitude is 
marching on to hell unconcerned. “Give us money; give 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


141 


us pleasure!” is the almost universal cry. The church car¬ 
ries on a sharp rivalry with the world in providing entertain¬ 
ments for those who are “lovers of pleasures more than lovers 
of God.” Some popular church edifices are fitted up with 
kitchens to furnish feasts for those “whose god is their 
belly.” Many of the marks of the last days are upon us. 
Beloved, are you awake to the vast concerns of eternity? 
If not, awake at once. Do not let the spirit of indifference 
bind you fast. Throw off the deadly slumber, and go to 
work to awaken others. 

246 INDIFFERENCE, Spiritual, Damning 

A loss of interest in the cause of Christ is one mark 
of a backslider. He who loves Christ loves the souls for 
whom Christ died. Every converted person wants to see 
others converted. He labors for their conversion; he con¬ 
tributes of his means, according to his ability, to support the 
ministers of Christ. The church-member who withholds his 
support from a man of God who ministers to him in spiritual 
things is backslidden. The evil spirit of covetousness has 
begun to take possession of him. Unless he gets rid of it 
this covetous spirit will drag him down to perdition. Indif¬ 
ference in the cause of Christ is damning. A lack of zeal 
is a lack of piety. He who ceases to make sacrifices for the 
cause of Christ is no longer a Christian, unless it be only 
in name. “So likewise, whosoever he be of you that for- 
saketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple” 
(Luke 14: 33). 

247 INFIDEL Credulity 

The greatest mental yield is produced by the mixture of 
a little science with a good deal of infidelity. We speak 
of the abundance only, and not of the value of the yield. 
Such a mixture will produce a prodigious amount of vanity, 
self-conceit, credulity, and contempt of all who believe in 
God and the Bible. Give such a person a few relics of the 
dwellers in caves, and he proceeds to demonstrate that the 
Bible account of creation is a fiction, and that man was 
evolved from a monkey! The fact that the earliest monu- 


142 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


ments of the human race—that the pyramids and ruins of 
Egypt, and the wonderful remains of Babylon and Nineveh, 
prove incontestably a higher order of intellect, and a high 
degree of cultivation—weighs nothing with him. He still 
insists that civilized man came from the lowest depths of 
savagery by efforts of his own. The faith of the most 
devout Christian bears no comparison in magnitude with 
the credulity of the infidel! 

248 INFIDELITY Unprofitable 

To reject the Bible will afford no relief to the guilty 
conscience. The infidel has a “certain fearful looking for 
of judgment and fiery indignation, which shall devour the 
adversaries” (Heb. 10:27). Even Voltaire called for a 
priest in his dying hours. He exclaimed, “Will not this 
God whom I have denied, save me too? Can not infinite 
mercy extend to me?” To his physician he said: “Doctof, 
I will give you half of what I am worth, if you will give 
me six months’ life.” The doctor answered: “Sir, you can 
not live six weeks.” Voltaire replied: “Then I shall go to 
hell, and you will go with me.” 

The best that infidelity can do for a man is to take away 
spiritual comforts in life, and hope in death. The body 
does not prosper simply by not having bad food; and the 
mind derives no comfort or strength from mere negations. 

' Have faith in God.” 

249 INNOCENCE to be Preserved 

Sin may be pardoned, but innocence, once lost, can never 
be regained. The thief may restore the money which he 
has stolen, and may find forgiveness of God and man, but 
he can never fully forgive himself. He may obtain the 
grace that will give him victory over temptation in all time 
to come; but he will carry a certain feeling of degradation 
with him to the grave. He may gain spiritual power and 
become useful to his fellow men, but he will never be what 
he might have been had he maintained his integrity from 
childhood. Gamblers and thieves and drunkards and lib¬ 
ertines may, if they truly repent, become converted and, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


143 


by the power of the Spirit, be transformed into saints; but 
they are not likely to make Martin Luthers or John Wes¬ 
leys. An edge-tool with a hidden flaw may look as well 
as any, and work as well as any for a time; but at 
length, at a critical time, when most needed, it gives way. 
The Psalmist said, “Integrity and uprightness shall pre¬ 
serve me.” Boys, girls, preserve your innocence at the risk 
of everything. Lose your life rather than lose your purity. 
Deliberately make up your minds that you will never lie 
nor steal nor drink nor do an unchaste act, under any cir¬ 
cumstances. Stick to this determination at all hazards. 

250 INSTRUCTION Provided for All 

The Free Methodist church makes special provision for 
the salvation of the poor and the ignorant. Its houses of 
worship are open to all who choose to come and conduct 
themselves in an orderly manner. The rich and the poor 
may freely meet together; for all the seats in all our church 
edifices are required to be forever free. But we do not 
propose to give any encouragement to ignorance. Our pe¬ 
riodicals are filled with instruction on practical matters 
connected with every-day Christian life. Whoever reads 
them will grow in knowledge, and should grow in grace. 
They are excellent educators of those who are willing to 
receive instruction. Our contributors, as a rule, furnish 
the most reliable information—that gathered from expe¬ 
rience. For our young people we are providing good, Chris¬ 
tian schools, fully up to the demands. 

251 INTEGRITY, Value of 

Never put yourself in the power of another. Treat your 
enemies so they can become your friends; treat your friends 
so that, if they become your enemies, they will.still be com¬ 
pelled to acknowledge your integrity. 

Paul directs a certain class to “first show piety at home.” 
It is a good rule for every oAe to observe. Conduct your af¬ 
fairs so that those familiar with your daily life will have no 
evil thing to say of you. “He that walketh uprightly walketh 
surely: but he that perverteth his ways shall be known” 


144 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


(Prov. 10:9). So the only safe course is to do just right 
under all circumstances. Join heartily in the prayer, “Let 
integrity and uprightness preserve me: for I wait on thee” 
(Ps. 25:21). 

252 INTEREST in Others will be Genuine 

It is very difficult for one to manifest an interest that 
he does not truly feel. It can only be done by a gifted and 
skilful actor. Some of these have said that, for the time 
being, they really seemed to themselves to be the characters 
they assumed to be. To deceive others they must first de¬ 
ceive themselves. Generally, where a preacher does not 
feel a deep interest for souls, if he pretends to it is seen to 
be a mere affectation. But where one feels, he makes others 
feel. They can not help it. They may resist it; but for 
the time being their hardness gives way and better in¬ 
fluences come over them. Then, brethren, when we want 
to awaken an interest in others, let us begin with ourselves. 
Let us stir up our own hearts to lay hold on God. Let us 
bring ourselves up to the standard to which we would 
have others attain. Let us feel more than we express. 

253 ISSUES Must be Advanced Judiciously 

Avoid, as a rule, all issues in a social, religious meet¬ 
ing. A person may be truly converted, and yet have some 
wrong notions. If he gets some of those wrong notions 
out, in giving his testimony, do not take them up on the 
spot, and, in a controversial spirit, try to correct them. The 
farmer keeps weeds from growing by sowing wheat or other 
grain. If he made it his sole business to fight weeds, he 
would probably starve. Yet killing weeds is a commendable 
work. But the method adopted by the practical farmer 
is the best. Keep out error by sowing the seeds of truth. 
Expel darkness by letting in light. Keep disease away by 
preserving your health and figor. If a wrong impression 
has been made, and it is necessary to remove it, do not be 
in haste about it, but look to the Lord for direction as to 
the best time and manner of doing it. It requires great 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


145 


carefulness, our Lord teaches us, in pulling up tares, lest 
we pull up the wheat also. 

254 JESTING Injurious 

The Apostle says that “foolish talking and jesting” do 
not become saints (Eph. 5 : 3, 4). With this opinion, sensible 
sinners quite generally agree. While apparently enjoying 
the jokes of preachers, they are very free to say, in their 
absence, that they do not think much of their religion. 

Many, thinking only of making themselves agreeable, are 
carried by the current of levity too far, grieve the Holy 
Spirit, and lose their power. Alfred Cookman says that 
he lost the blessing of holiness in this way. “Conference 
came on: I found myself in the midst of beloved brethren; 
forgetting how easily the infinitely Holy Spirit might be 
grieved, I allowed myself to drift into the spirit of the 
hour; and after an indulgence in foolish joking and story¬ 
telling, realized I had suffered serious loss. To my next 
field of labor I proceeded with consciously diminished spir¬ 
itual power.” Let our cheerfulness have no mixture of 
levity; but let our serious spirit, and earnest words, or de¬ 
vout silence, impress all with whom we associate that we 
are living as in the sensible presence of God. 

255 JESUITS and Morality 

The Jesuits are dangerous to any community in which 
they gain a foothold. They insinuate themselves every¬ 
where. They wish their influence to be felt. They work in 
secret. It is one of their maxims that “the end sanctifies 
the means.” 

The teaching of the Jesuits is one cause of the great 
decline of business morality in this country. 

256 KINDNESS 

Kindness is a marked trait in the character of every real 
Christian. A truly converted man carries a spirit of kind¬ 
ness with him wherever he goes. A preacher may, by 
the exhibition of a cross and hateful spirit, kill the influence 
of the best sermons. Faber says: “Every solitary kind ac- 


146 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


tion that is done, the world over, is working briskly in its 
own sphere to restore the balance between right and wrong. 
Kindness has converted more sinners than either zeal, 
eloquence or learning; and these three never converted any 
one unless they were kind also. The continual sense which 
a kind heart has of its own need of kindness, keeps it 
humble. Perhaps an act of kindness never dies, but ex¬ 
tends the invisible undulations of its influence over the 
breadth of centuries.” 

257 LABOR AND REST 

In the writings of Paul there is much that appears to 
be contradictory. This is in accordance with nature. What 
can be more contradictory than the soft, balmy air of a 
quiet day, and the resistless power of the cyclone? Yet, 
analyze each, and the elements are precisely the same. The 
only difference is one of motion. Paul evidently included 
himself when he wrote, “We which have believed do enter 
into rest.” How could a man rest , who was so abundant in 
labors? It was his constantly being in a state of rest that 
enabled him to be so ceaselessly active. It was his 
habitual quietness of spirit that kept him from wearing 
out. Worry kills more than work. He was “in weariness 
often,” but delightful rest made him forget his weariness. 
The anxieties of common lives about what they shall eat, 
and drink, and wear, did not disturb him. His resources 
were in Christ, his home was in Heaven, his one business 
to turn men from darkness to light and from the power of 
Satan unto God. Overwork could not kill him—he died a 
martyr at his post. 


258 LAW, Vindicatory 

Blackstone says that a law consists of four parts. Of 
one of these he says, “The vindicatory part signifies what 
punishment shall be incurred by wrong-doers; and in this 
consists the main strength and force of a law.” 

Preachers who fail to impress their hearers that the 
punishment which God has pronounced against those who 
violate his moral law will certainly be inflicted, go far 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


147 


towards bringing this law into contempt. They rob it of its 
“main strength and force.” Who cares for a law which he 
can violate with impunity? No one can question but that 
the Sermon on the Mount is as binding as ever. Yet how 
plainly does Christ point out the penalties that will be in¬ 
curred by those who disregard the precepts and prohibitions 
he lays down with authority in this wonderful discourse! 
This easy-going religion, which gives the people to under¬ 
stand that they can live about as they please, and go to 
Heaven, if they only belong to the church, is but leading 
them down to hell. To suppose that fidelity to a church 
can compensate for sins against God, is a dangerous and 
damning delusion. 

259 LEADINGS, Mistaken 

It requires great watchfulness on the part of those en¬ 
gaged in the work of the Lord, lest that which was begun 
in the Spirit shall end, in the flesh. The constant tendency 
is to drop from the supernatural to the natural. There is 
danger that those who, in the main, are led by the Spirit 
of God, may in some things give place to the devil. When 
he is suffered to have an influence he is very likely to obtain 
control. 

A woman took part in a revival which resulted in the 
salvation of a number of young people. She professed to 
be led by the Spirit of God, but a spirit that would not 
brook control took possession of her. This was proof that 
it was not the Spirit of God. Her exercises became violent. 
She frequently fell. Then she took it upon her to get the 
young people married. “The Lord showed her,” she said, 
“that this young man must marry this young woman.” She 
seemed to be greatly burdened till her ends were accom¬ 
plished. 

Such work is not of God. One of the most interesting 
books of the Bible is the Acts of the Apostles. But nothing of 
this kind is recorded among their acts. We read a good 
deal in the New Testament about Christians taking up their 
cross; but there is no hint about taking up their cross to get 
married. No person ever ought to marry when it is a 


148 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


cross to marry. Those whom God would join together do 
not need compulsion of any sort from others to come to¬ 
gether. “Busybodies in other men’s matters” ought not to 
lay their impertinent conduct to the Spirit of God. 

260 LETTER AND SPIRIT 

One of the most damnable heresies of the day is the 
teaching that we can keep the spirit of God’s commands 
while wilfully and needlessly violating the letter. It is true 
“the letter killeth but the spirit giveth life.” But this does 
not mean that we are to pay no regard to the letter; but 
that we must not rest in it. We must observe the letter, and 
get at the spirit of the thing. Adam Clarke says some excel¬ 
lent things on this subject, which we transcribe: “The gos¬ 
pel has both its letter and its spirit; and multitudes of pro¬ 
fessing Christians, by resting in the letter, receive not the 
life which it is calculated to impart. Water in baptism is 
the letter that points out the purification of the soul; they 
who rest in this letter are without this purification, and 
dying in that state, they die eternally. Bread and wine 
in the sacrament of the Lord’s supper, are the letter; the 
atoning efficacy of the death of Jesus, and the grace com¬ 
municated by this to the soul of a believer, are the spirit. 
Multitudes rest in this letter, simply receiving these symbols, 
without reference to the atonement, or to their guilt; and 
thus lose the benefit of the atonement, and the salvation of 
their souls....It may be safely asserted that the Jews in 
no period of their history ever rested more in the letter of 
their law than the vast majority of Christians are doing in 
the letter of their gospel. Unto multitudes of Christians 
Christ may truly say, ‘Ye will not come to me that ye 
may have life.’ ” 

261 LIBERALITY Toward God 

Many suffer loss, temporally, as well as spiritually, be¬ 
cause they are not liberal toward God. It would be well 
for us to consider the word of the Lord which came to 
Haggai the prophet, saying, “Is it time for you, O ye, to 
dwell in your cieled houses, and this house lie waste? Now 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


149 


therefore thus saith the Lord of hosts, Consider your ways. 
Ye have sown much, and bring in little; ye eat, but ye 
have not enough; ye drink, but ye are not filled with drink; 
ye clothe you, but there is none warm; and he that earneth 
wages, earneth wages to put it into a bag with holes” 
(Haggai 1:3-6). If we provide for God’s cause, God will 
provide for us. He will lead us in temporal matters in 
the way of prosperity. If we make our own interests first, 
and foremost, we are left to ourselves, and our labor and 
our pains amount to but little. They bring neither peace 
nor prosperity. And the soul dies within. 

262 LIBERTY Not Lawlessness 

Many of the foreigners who come to our country make 
good citizens. To such we give a cordial welcome. But 
some have strange ideas of liberty. They seem to think that 
liberty is lawlessness, that freedom is anarchy. These are 
generally from Germany, and from other countries crushed 
by despotism. They have much to say about “Personal 
Rights.” They mean by this phrase the right to keep saloons, 
the right to make drunkards, the right to abolish the Sab¬ 
bath by turning it into a day of drinking, and rev¬ 
elry and carousing, to the disturbance of religious 
worship and the annoyance of all good citizens. They should 
know that our civil institutions are founded on the Bible, 
that we owe to the influence of the Bible, and the blessing 
of God upon our fathers while they obeyed his commands, 
the freedom which we enjoy. If they do not like our insti¬ 
tutions, the way is open, as far as this country is con¬ 
cerned, for them to return to the lands from which they 
came. Our country can get along without them—perhaps 
better without them than with them. If they stay they 
should be made to obey our laws. 

263 LIFE, Brevity of 

“Few and evil have the days of the years of my life 
been,” said Jacob to Pharaoh. And yet he was a hundred 
and thirty years old. He began life poor, and became 
wealthy. He was the honored father of a large family of 


150 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


dutiful, intelligent children. Yet how short life looked to 
him in retrospect! How small an estimate did he put upon 
his great prosperity! 

“For what is life? At best a brief delight. 

A sun scarce bright’ning ere it sinks in night; 

A flower, at morning fresh, at noon decayed; 

A still, swift river, gliding into shade.” 

Man is made for eternity. The longest earthly exist¬ 
ence is too short for his immortal longings. Its pleasures 
are unsatisfying, its honors empty and short-lived. He who 
lives for the present lives to no purpose: he is but wasting 
golden opportunities, chasing empty phantoms that often 
elude pursuit and always dissolve when grasped. 

Reader, lay hold on eternal life! 

264 LIFE, Spiritual, The Importance of 

What do our peculiar doctrines amount to if we are 
spiritually dead? We may hold them up and defend them, 
but all this will not save a single soul. It is still true that 
“the life is the light of men." All that you say may be 
true; but, unless there is life in it, none will be brought 
under conviction. The most talented and best educated 
preacher is worthless to the cause of God if he is dead. 
He may fill the church with his eloquence, but what of it? 
He gets his salary, the expenses are paid, but preacher and 
people go down unawakened to eternal night. 

But a live man or woman will cause an awakening among 
the dead. They may not be gifted or educated, but they 
will make a stir. Life begets life. “A living dog is better 
than a dead lion” (Eccles. 9:4). A little boy or girl, full 
of vigor, can do more than a giant sleeping in the arms of 
death. 

265 LIGHT, The, Of God’s Grace 

God’s grace, like the sun, shines everywhere. To those 
who welcome the light which God sends to the soul, 
and have the courage to walk in it, the light shines with 
increasing brightness. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


151 


A Roman Catholic professor in the University of Paris, 
before the days of Luther and the Reformation, wrote as 
follows: “Religion has but one foundation, but one end, but 
one head, Jesus Christ, blessed forever! He alone trod the 
winepress. Let us not then call ourselves by the name of 
St. Paul, or Apollos, or St. Peter. Christians are those only 
who love Jesus Christ and his word. May everything be 
illumined with his light! Through it there may be a re¬ 
turn of times like those of that primitive church which de¬ 
voted to Jesus Christ so many martyrs! May the Lord 
of the harvest, foreseeing a new harvest, send new and 
diligent laborers!” 

Without knowing it, he was one of those who prepared 
the way for the Reformation. 

266 LIGHT, Welcome and Walk in the 

Because you are under conviction it is no sign that you 
were always deceived. To become truly pious it is not 
necessary to become more wicked. To a backslidden min¬ 
ister the Spirit said, “Be watchful, and strengthen the things 
which remain, that are ready to die: for I have not found 
thy works p'erfect before God” (Rev. 3:2). The way to 
strengthen is not to give up and go back to the world utterly, 
but to call to mind the light once given, hold fast to it, and 
repent before God for not having walked in it. You hear a 
searching sermon, and new light breaks in upon you, or 
old light comes back with increasing power. Take it and 
go forward; but do not deny anything that God has done 
for you. If you do you will become confused; and perhaps 
be left to doubt whether there is any such thing as a reliable 
religious experience. 

Conscientious people are inclined to give up their expe¬ 
rience too readily. The presumptuous hold on to their 
profession in the face of the clearest evidence that it is not 
genuine. 

267 LIGHT Within 

A little blaze, where all is dark, attracts attention. Men 
instinctively are drawn towards a fire. Every minister of 


152 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Jesus Christ should be a burning and a shining light. The 
root of the matter must be in him. He must not only be 
illuminated, but be luminous. The command of Christ is: 
Let your light shine. Place the emphasis on your. Many 
a pulpit is all ablaze with the light of historians, and 
scientists, and poets, while the preacher himself is shrouded 
in Egyptian darkness. The command implies that we have 
light. Every truly converted person has inward light. But 
it may be lost. It is often lost. The only way to keep it 
is to walk in it and let it shine. Fire-baptized preachers 
are in great demand among us. Dry, dead preachers, no 
matter what their talent or learning, are a grievous burden. 
Brother, get fired up before you enter the pulpit. 

268 LIQUOR TRAFFIC a Disgrace 

The liquor traffic is a disgrace to our civilization; it is 
a reproach to our Christianity. It costs more than schools 
and churches—it kills more than pestilence, war and fam¬ 
ine. One rumseller does more harm than a hundred mis¬ 
sionaries can undo. The great plague of the world is 
strong drink; and its manufacture and sale should be 
suppressed by the most stringent of laws. 

We copy from the Missionary Herald an appeal which a 
native chief made to an English official in South Africa : 

“I fear Lo Bengula less than I do brandy. I fought with 
Lo Bengula when he had his father’s great warriors from 
Natal, and drove him back, and he never came again; and 
God, who helped me then, would help me again. Lo Ben¬ 
gula never gives me a sleepless night. But to fight against 
drink is to fight against demons, and not against men. I 
dread the white man’s drink more than all the assegais 
(spears) of the Matabele, which kill men’s bodies, and it 
is quickly over; but drink puts devils into men, and de¬ 
stroys both their souls and their bodies forever. Its wounds 
never heal.” 

269 LOVE is Self-Sacrificing 

Genuine love is considerate and self-sacrificing. Those 
who love Christ do, out of love for him, all they can to 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


153 


promote his cause. To secure their help it is not necessary 
to appeal to any other motive but love for Christ. 

William Cobbett was a celebrated English poetical writer 
of the past generation. He was devoted to his wife. One 
time, when they lived in London, she was sick—ready to 
die. The doctor said if she. could sleep she might live. She 
could not sleep unless the street could be kept quiet. Wil¬ 
liam Cobbett put on woolen stockings, and in his stocking 
feet walked the street all night, to keep it quiet. She slept 
and recovered. 

Love beareth all things. It is folly for one to profess to 
love Christ, when he is ready to forsake his cause because 
some minister or member does not treat him as he should. 
Abuse from her husband does not make the mother cease 
to love her child. 

270 LOVE to God, the Essential Thing 

All our religion amounts to nothing unless we love God. 
Preaching may commend itself to man by its eloquence and 
fervor; but God does not accept the preacher if he draws 
his inspiration from any other motive than love to God 
and love to man. There are doctrines that are true, and 
there are doctrines that are partly true, and there are doc- 
tines that are false; but the most cordial belief of the 
soundest doctrines can not save a person unless he loves 
God with all his heart and all his strength. No worship, 
however, costly and attractive it may be, or however simple 
it may be, is acceptable to God unless the heart is in it. 
It was of strict attendance upon Divine worship that our 
Savior said, “This people draweth night unto me with their 
mouth, and honoureth me with their lips; but their heart 
is far from me. But in vain they do worship me, teaching 
for doctrines the commandments of men” (Matt. 15:8, 9). 


271 LOVE Will Not Exaggerate 

There is something defective in the holiness that can not 
state facts without exaggeration. We should never appear 
to be obliged to make allowance for what a holy person 


154 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


writes or says. We should be able to rely upon his facts, 
though compelled in any given instance to question his logic. 
We should feel that we can depend upon his representations, 
though we can not assent to his inferences. To exaggerate 
or color facts, in order to set forth our own labors to a better 
advantage, savors of vanity; to .do it in order to depreciate 
the labors of others is an indication that prejudice or envy 
reigns within. Let us acknowledge our defects without apolo¬ 
gizing for them; let us, with all sincerity and earnestness, 
seek the gospel remedy—humble love. 

272 LUKEWARMNESS a Great Enemy 

We are in greater danger from indifference and luke¬ 
warmness than we are from prejudice and persecution. 
Indifference and lukewarmness are our greatest enemies, 
and are most to be dreaded. They steal upon the indi¬ 
vidual and upon the church as noiselessly as the serpent’s 
tread. They give no warning; they excite no fears. They 
occasion no reproach. This is the great element of danger 
to which lukewarmness exposes us. It does not bring upon 
us reproach like open transgression. On the contrary, it 
raises us in the esteem of the worldly. They begin to speak 
well of us. Backslidden church-members receive us to their 
fellowship. We conclude that we have been “too par¬ 
ticular,” that there is no need of being “so much engaged” 
in the things of religion. So it becomes very difficult to 
arouse one from a lukewarm state. He is too contented. He 
compares himself with others and concludes that if they 
go to Heaven he will. So he sleeps on. 

When one person keeps alive in a society, he keeps the 
rest under conviction. They* can see from him how they 
have declined in spirituality. In their meetings he brings 
the Spirit with him and ministers it to others. But where 
all have become backslidden, the case is more hopeless. It 
is very difficult to awaken them. There is nothing no¬ 
ticeably wrong in their lives, and yet their whole lives are 
wrong. They go through the forms of religious worship, 
but they lack that love of God, that fervor of spirit, which 
alone renders any worship acceptable in his sight. The most 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


155 


searching sermons appear to have no effect upon them. 
They give no attention to truths adapted to their condition 
and necessary to arouse them to a sense of their danger. 
If they were openly backslidden they might be reached; 
but as it is next to impossible to fasten conviction upon a 
lukewarm person, Christ says to him, “I would thou wert 
either cold or hot.” 

273 LUKEWARMNESS Leads to Loss of Soul 

Lukewarmness, common as it is, and generally unno¬ 
ticed as it is, will, if persisted in, result in the loss of the 
soul. To a lukewarm minister Christ said: “I will spue 
thee out of my mouth” (Rev. 3:16). 

Such a man is no more pleasing to Christ now than he 
was then. His only means of safety is to “be zealous there¬ 
fore, and repent.” But he is not very likely to do this; be¬ 
cause he does not see that he is lukewarm. He will not 
admit it. He professes to be in a high state of grace. He 
says, “I am rich and increased with goods, and have need 
of nothing.” How widely different is Christ’s opinion of 
him: “And knowest not that thou art wretched, and mis¬ 
erable, and poor, and blind, and naked.” 

Reader, are you in this dreadful condition? If so, con¬ 
sent to see it. Do not be angry; but allow yourself to be 
warned. Break down before God. Come to Christ for 
light and life and salvation. 

274 LUKEWARMNESS Offensive to God 

To serve God acceptably we must be zealous in his serv¬ 
ice. Unless we are earnest Christians, we are not Chris¬ 
tians. Lukewarmness is offensive to God. The love that 
he calls for is all the love of which we are capable. To 
love him with a divided heart is to acknowledge that we are 
listening with pleasure to the advances of his rivals. Any¬ 
thing done in his service, which is not done out of love to 
him, is not done for him. The sacrifice which he accepts 
is a broken heart and a contrite spirit. A display of pride 
in his service men may look upon with admiration, but 
it is an abomination to God. No sacrifice which he demands 


156 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


appears hard to one who is heartily engaged in his service. 
“Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” 

275 MARRIAGE: Warning to Young Women 

It is no wonder that ungodly men like to get Christian 
wives. They can be depended upon. They are not gov¬ 
erned by pride, or ambition, or impulse; but by principle. 
But, sister, you run a fearful risk when you marry a man 
who is destitute of Christian principle. If he is without the 
fear of God, he will be likely to give you trouble. Your 
life, in all probability, will be one of suffering. He will 
endeavor by degrees to draw you away from Christ. If 
he does not succeed in this, he may turn to oppose and 
persecute you. Difficulties will confront you at every step 
of your progress in Divine life. No matter how attractive 
you may be to him now, you may expect that he will find 
some other woman more attractive in years to come, and 
the very life will be crushed out of you as the sad con¬ 
viction forces itself upon you, that he to whom you have 
given your all has become alienated from you in his af¬ 
fection, and given his love to another. Sisters, heed the 
admonitions of God’s holy Word and “Be not unequally 
yoked together with unbelievers.” 

276 MARRYING DRUNKARDS 

In one of the provinces of Germany the authorities are 
forbidden to issue a marriage license to a man who is 
known to be a drunkard. This is as it should be. But wom¬ 
en ought not to make such a law necessary. No woman 
should entrust her life to a man who indulges in the use 
of intoxicating liquor. He may promise to reform; but if 
he will not reform before obtaining a wife, he will not be 
very apt to reform after he gets one. No unmarried wom¬ 
an is so poorly off, but that she will be worse off if united to 
a drunken husband. 

277 MEETINGS Injured by Light Spirit 

We have sometimes seen a good meeting greatly in¬ 
jured by a light spirit insinuating itself into the hearts of 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


157 


the saints, until they were controlled by it for the time be¬ 
ing. The Holy Spirit was grieved and the congregation lost 
its seriousness. William Kendall often had lively meetings. 
He would himself get blessed very much, and the people got 
blessed, as glorious victories were achieved in the conver¬ 
sion of sinners and the sanctification of believers. But he 
guarded carefully against a spirit of levity. As soon as he 
saw symptoms of any being carried too far in that direction, 
he would oppose them; he would make no issue, but, in the 
Spirit, he would lead off in singing one of the old, solemn, 
Methodist hymUs. This would hurt no one, but would bring 
the meeting back into the right channel. He could not 
have done this if he had not himself been filled with the 
Spirit. Such a course is in keeping with the Apostle’s 
direction: “Is any merry? let him sing psalms” (James 
5:13). Do not let him strike up a lively ditty; but let 
him sing a good, solid psalm, or hymn. But do not let 
dead folks make this an excuse for opposing the saints when 
they get blessed. “See thou hurt not the oil and the wine ” 
(Rev. 6:6). 

278 MEETINGS, Opening 

The time that can be given to a religious meeting is 
necessarily limited. The one who has it in charge should 
see that no time is wasted. He should open promptly. His 
hymns and Scripture should be selected beforehand, and the 
people not kept waiting while he is hunting them up. All 
necessary consulting should be had in advance. 

As a rule, make the opening exercises short. It is a 
shame for a minister to take half an hour to open a love- 
feast, and then urge the people to “speak short.” 

If you are to preach, come before the congregation full 
of matter. Make no apologies, no delays. Dive into the 
merits of your subject at once. Speak plain words and to 
the point. Get clear ideas of your subject and present them 
in a clear and forcible manner. When you get through, 
stop. Do not keep the saw running when the log is sawed. 
Try and get some under conviction and give them a chance 
to get to the Lord and get blessed. 


158 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


279 MEETINGS, Protracted 

Do not be in too great haste about closing your pro¬ 
tracted meetings. Hold on till you see great results. If 
there is an interest, so the unsaved come out, keep the 
meetings going, even if sinners do not make any move 
toward getting saved. Patience and perseverence are very 
necessary to carry on the work of God successfully. Break 
down yourself anew before God. Get a deeper and more 
tender love for perishing souls. Get your working members 
baptized anew with the Holy Ghost. Put the plow in 
deeper. Have a stronger faith in God. Expect success. Do 
not scold. Do not talk discouragement. Begin your meet¬ 
ings promptly. Close in good season, so you and the peo¬ 
ple will not get all tired out. Be determined to have a 
complete victory, and you will have it. God bless you. 

280 MEETINGS, Strangers in Our 

People come to the Free Methodist churches to get help 
for their souls. Therefore we should be in a condition to 
help them. If good, substantial food is handed out, it will 
be relished, however plain the vessels are in which it is 
served, provided they are clean. Starved souls, if they are 
not past feeling, want the bread of life. To pelt them with 
stones is cruel. It drives them away, and hurts them, and 
hurts them who pelt them. 

We should deal faithfully with the erring, but it should 
be always in love. Did we know all the circumstances of 
those whom we censure we should often pity as well as 
blame. Kindness may be undeserved, but it is seldom that it 
does not bring better returns than severity. Strangers who 
visit our meetings should always be well used. Nothing fits 
us to labor for others like perfect love. It disposes us to do 
good and instinctively leads us to adopt the proper means of 
accomplishing it. Wisdom is better than wit; sympathy is 
better than sarcasm. 

281 MEETINGS, Union 

Ministers who appeal to the love of pleasure to promote 
the self-denying religion of the cross, love to get even an 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


159 


apparent indorsement of their ungodly course from a holi¬ 
ness preacher. Hence, though they secretly oppose you 
and talk against you, they are anxious to have you unite 
with them in union meetings. They do not want your 
religion , but your influence. People have begun to have 
confidence in your piety, and these compromising preachers 
desire, as far as possible, to turn this to their own account. 
Their paper is no longer good; yours is, and they want your 
indorsement. Be on your guard. Many a sound man has 
been ruined by indorsing others. 

Have nothing to do, in any form, with sustaining meet¬ 
ings in which superficial work is done. If men are en¬ 
couraged to think they are converted, while they are hold¬ 
ing on to the secret lodge and to their tobacco; and women, 
while they still appear in their jewelry and their finery; 
then have nothing to do with such a revival. It makes 
proselytes to the church, instead of converts to God. It 
results in fatal self-deception. It leads souls along from 
the altar of God, from the sacramental table down to hell. 

Give no countenance to any religious meetings where 
you can not do thorough work for God. If you would have 
prosperity in the church, then you must', the same as in 
private life, mind your own business. 

282 MEMBERS, Patience with 

Do not get tempted with your old members if they do 
not take hold as zealously in the revival meetings as you 
think they should. They will not hinder the work unless 
you yourself are the occasion of it, by getting tried with 
them, and by firing at them, and so drawing public atten¬ 
tion towards them. They have stood by the work bravely, 
when others have quit the field and run away; and they 
will stand by it when some, who now seem burning with 
zeal, have burned all out and have blown away. Let them 
work in their own way. If you feel that you must say 
sharp things to them, do not say them in public; but take 
them alone; visit them ; pray with them; get blessed together, 
and you will feel like bearing with them. It is no way to 
promote a revival, to say things in public that have a 


160 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


natural tendency to undermine the confidence of those who 
hear, in the piety of your members. If preachers would 
attend class-meetings more, and do more faithful pastoral 
visiting, they would have less occasion to make periodical 
attacks upon their members in public. 

283 MEMBERS, Preachers Must Respect The Rights of 

The Free Methodist church is not an ecclesiastical des¬ 
potism. The governing power in the church is not vested 
exclusively with the preachers. They have their part in 
the government, but they can exercise it only in conjunc¬ 
tion with the members. The preacher does not admit mem¬ 
bers, nor does he dismiss them. This power belongs to 
the members. The preacher may preside at the society 
meeting which admits members, but it is the vote of the 
society which admits them. On the, other hand, he has 
no right to drop members. They can not be disposed of 
in that way. Unless they die, or withdraw, or remove, 
they can not be got out of the church without a trial ac¬ 
cording to Discipline. Our members have rights which the 
preachers are bound to respect. Those who wish to lord 
it over God’s heritage should seek a home somewhere else 
than in the Free Methodist church. 

284 MEMBERS Should be Given Work 

Our preachers often fail in setting to work members of 
their societies who have a heart to work and the ability 
to do efficient work. Not until some other organization 
pushes such unemployed members out, do these preachers 
realize what a loss they have sustained. In some places 
the Salvation Army has been manned almost entirely by 
Free Methodists. What a crowd they did draw! They 
possessed no more talent than they did before, but they 
had somebody to set them to work. 

A preacher is an officer. If he can not lead others out 
into the conflict, he should resign. He who can not direct 
others should take his place in the ranks. In every neigh¬ 
borhood there is a great battle for holiness and righteous¬ 
ness to be fought. Every one capable of doing service 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


161 


should be enlisted. Their work should be assigned them, 
and opportunity be given them to do it. Put forward the 
modest and the retiring. Great volcanoes are sometimes 
thrown up on a level plain. Those who were never con¬ 
sidered gifted, sometimes, when they get filled with the 
Spirit, astonish their acquaintances by their powerful and 
timely exhortations. 

285 MEMBERSHIP Merely Will Not Save One 

Much of the preaching of the day takes it for granted 
that members of the church in good standing are, by virtue 
of that fact , in a state of salvation. In this respect there is 
but little difference among preachers of all denominations. 
In many cases this is a fatal assumption. There should be 
no effort to convert people to our way of thinking in matters 
of indifference, but we should hold up clearly the New Testa¬ 
ment standard of salvation. Much of the preaching and 
most of the warnings of the Bible are addressed to God’s 
professed people. It was to “the church of God,” to those 
called “saints,” that Paul wrote these words: “Examine 
yourselves, whether ye be in the faith; prove your own 
selves. Know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ 
is in you, except ye be reprobates?” (2 Cor. 13:5). And it 
was to a minister in good standing that the beloved and 
loving John wrote: “Because thou sayest, I am rich, and 
increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest 
not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and 
blind, and naked” (Rev. 3:17). 

286 MEN, True, Should be Recognized 

Every man should be accorded all the advantages to 
which his talents, his training, and his good conduct entitle 
him. These qualities have a commercial value. They are 
his property as much as the house which he has purchased 
by his industry and economy. Organizations that rob him 
of these advantages are no less guilty than those that rob 
him of his money. 

The tendency of strong party spirit is to put forward 


162 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


compromisers, time-servers, where men of principle are 
needed. 

“God give us men. A time like this demands 

Strong minds, great hearts, true faith, and ready hands; 

Men whom the lust of office does not kill; 

Men whom the spoils of office can not buy; 

Men who possess opinions and a will; 

Men who have honor—men who will not lie.” 

We should be able to recognize such men, and be willing 
to do what we can to aid in giving them their true position. 
This is God’s direction : “Render therefore to all their dues; 
tribute to whom tribute is due; custom to whom custom; 
fear to whom fear; honour to whom honour” (Rom. 13:7). 

287 MIND, Power of, Over Body 

The mind has great power over the body. Bad feelings 
grow by being nourished and cherished. It has been re¬ 
peatedly demonstrated that a well person may be made sick 
by being made to think he is sick. We are saved by hope, 
physically as well as spiritually. The Psalmist said: “I 
shall not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord” 
(Ps. 118:17). And he did not die. If you are tempted, do 
not talk about it, unless to some one who can help you. If 
you do not feel well, take the same course. 

“Some men employ their health, an ugly trick, 

In making known how oft they have been sick, 

And give us, in recitals of disease, 

A doctor’s trouble, but without the fees.” 

True faith in God begets a determined spirit, and often 
keeps off disease. Blessings that are worth having, are 
worth fighting for. Many do not live out their appointed 
days because they give up too easily. The spirit of infirmity 
overpowers them. But a strong spirit masters a weak body. 

288 MIND Must be Expanded 

To grow in grace you must grow in knowledge. If the 
mind is contracted, the thoughts run in the same groove, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


163 


and the same forms of expression are used. Religion de¬ 
generates into formality. The words used may be good, 
but they are without power. Stereotyped matter does not 
interest either speaker or hearer. To expand the mind, to 
grow in knowledge, you must read, you must study. You 
may think you have not the time, but in this you are mis¬ 
taken. Elihu Burritt, a blacksmith, while working at his 
trade, became one of the most learned men of his age. 
He understood more languages than any other man in this 
country. While learning them he worked the regular hours 
each day at his trade. Nor did he injure his health by 
work and study. You may have a large circuit and a great 
deal to do, but if you have a mind to study, you can. by 
systematic application, accomplish wonders. Devotion to 
God will make you eager to equip yourself in the best 
possible manner for his work. 

289 MIND, Sound 

The Spirit of God gives wisdom and direction to the 
children of God. But they are not to throw away their com¬ 
mon sense. They are to use all they have, and get more. 
Common sense is one of the gifts of God. Paul says, “For 
God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and 
of love, and of a sound mind” (2 Tim. 1:7). A locomotive 
fired up is very useful when kept on the track; but if it gets 
off the track it does great harm. The spirit “of power 
and of love” is very necessary for a Christian. Without 
it he is like a locomotive without steam. But if he has 
not with it a sound mind, he is liable to do more hurt 
than good. He becomes positively dangerous. The thing 
to be done is not to humor his caprices, and jump on to 
his train, but get him on the track as soon and with as 
little damage as possible. You do him hurt to encourage 
him in his erratic tendencies. Keep these triune graces, 
power, and love, and a sound mind. Either one without 
the rest will result in harm. See that you have all three. 
They are “received.” Therefore you may come to God for 
them. It is time to put away folly. Weakness is cured 
by “power impatience and fretfulness by “love,” and 


164 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


foolishness by a “sound mind.” Have you received them? 
If not, will you have them? 

290 MINISTERS Of Other Denominations, Inviting 

A preacher of another denomination writes to us that 
he was specially invited to attend a Free Methodist camp¬ 
meeting. He says he went and labored, and went away, 
and they never offered to pay his railroad fare. We know 
nothing of the meeting—were not present at it—and had 
nothing to do with his going there; but he writes to us as 
if we were to blame for the treatment which he received. 
Perhaps we are. Our preachers and people ought to be 
more considerate. They ought to have better manners. If 
you specially invite any one to come and labor in a meeting, 
be particular and pay the traveling expenses, and take good 
care of him. “The workman is worthy of his hire.” 

As a rule, it is not best to invite ministers of other de¬ 
nominations to labor in our meetings. They can not enter 
heartily and conscientiously into our work. If they could, 
they would be of us. They are apt to sow the seeds of 
dissatisfaction and worldliness. They leave an influence 
which works insidiously against us. We had better mind 
our own business, and do our own work. 

291 MISTAKES Should be Acknowledged 

One of the greatest means of grace is a readiness to ac¬ 
knowledge our mistakes frankly and without any efforts at 
self-vindication. The “old man” dies hard. When he joins 
the church, and especially when he professes holiness, he 
is very watchful over his reputation for intelligence and 
consistency. If he does not, in general terms, profess in¬ 
fallibility, yet in no particular instance is he known to 
candidly admit that he was mistaken. There is something 
wanting in the experience of such persons. They are lack¬ 
ing in mellowness, in gentleness under provocation, and in the 
unction of the Holy Ghost. We should never get where we 
can not obey the command, “Confess your faults one to an¬ 
other, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


165 


292 MISTAKES Should be Confessed 

It is a subtle artifice of Satan to make a saint believe 
that he must never confess when he has been mistaken in 
his judgment, or has taken the wrong side of a question. 
When we have done wrong, even from the best of motives, 
we should be ready to acknowledge it. Jeremy Taylor, in 
his “Rules for Holy Living,” says: “Be not always ready to 
excuse every oversight, or indiscretion, or ill action, but if 
thou beest guilty of it confess it plainly; for virtue scorns 
a lie for its cover, but to hide a sin with it is like a crust 
of leprosy drawn upon an ulcer. If thou beest not guilty 
(unless it be scandalous), be not over-earnest to remove it, 
but rather use it as an argument to chastise all greatness 
of fancy and opinion in thyself; and accustom thyself to 
bear reproof patiently and contentedly, and the harsh words 
of thy enemies, as knowing that the anger of an enemy is 
a better monitor, and represents our faults, or admonishes 
us of our duty, with more heartiness than the kindness does, 
or precious balm of a friend.” 

293 MONEY Should not be Hoarded 

Why should you wish to leave so much property to your 
children that they will not need to work for a living? Do 
you think they will be as well off in this world? Did the 
men around you, who occupy influential positions, start in 
life with a fortune at their command? As a rule, did they 
not begin low down and work their way up? Will your 
children be as likely to make good Christians, if they are 
left so they can fare sumptuously every day? You know 
the probability is that they will be like the world. 

Then use your money for the promotion of the cause of 
God, and do not hoard it up for your children. 

294 MONEY, Wisdom to be Exercised in Handling 

In handling the funds of others we should not only be 
strictly honest, but we should take pains to make our 
honesty apparent to all. There should not be the slightest 
ground for suspicion. We should have the means at com- 


166 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


maud to silence the accusations of envy and hate. See 
how particular Paul was, when he took up a contribution at 
Corinth for the relief of the poor and persecuted saints at 
Jerusalem. He would not take it alone; but had the 
churches appoint capable, trusty persons to go with him, 
and see that the contributions were properly administered. 
He gave the reason: “Avoiding this, that no man should 
blame us in this abundance which is administered by us: 
providing for honest things, not only in the sight of the 
Lord, but also in the sight of men.” See 2 Cor. 8:18-21. 
He could endure any amount of persecution; but he could 
not needlessly lay himself open to false accusations. 

Dr. Paley well says: “He repeatedly professes that there 
should be associated with himself in the management of the 
public bounty, not colleagues of his own appointment, but 
persons elected by the contributors themselves.” 

A minister of the gospel should be a man whose integrity 
can not be successfully questioned. 

295 MONOPOLIES Characterized 

In the gospel there is no privileged class. Just as the 
influence of the gospel prevails in civil affairs, the rights 
of all are respected. Monopolies are utterly subversive of 
the rights of the people. They rob the many to enrich 
the few. 

Cromwell wrote from Dunbar, where his last signal vic¬ 
tory was gained over the royalists: “Relieve the oppressed, 
hear the groans of poor prisoners. Be pleased to reform the 
abuses of all professions. If there be any one that makes 
many poor to make a few rich, that suits not a Common¬ 
wealth.” 

Noble words! Our nation needs a Cromwell. Con¬ 
spiracy is the order of the day. The business of the coun¬ 
try is growing to be more and more conducted on Sa¬ 
tanic principles. The man who places you in a position 
so that he alone can meet your wants, and then demands 
an exorbitant price for doing it, acts on the same principle 
as the highwayman who. with a loaded, cocked revolver at 
your head, demands your purse or your life. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


167 


296 MORAL STANDARDS Must be Kept Up 

Just as the church lowers the standard of salvation, 
the world looking on lowers the standard of morality. 
Gambling at church festivals, gambling in stocks by church- 
members, makes gambling respectable and popular. The 
voting of church-members for license to sell liquor makes 
saloon-keepers bold and defiant. Sin needs but little en¬ 
couragement to break through all bounds, and assert its 
right to dominate. 

297 MORALITY, One Standard of, For All 

God has one standard of morality for all. “Thou shalt 
not steal,*’ is as binding upon the non-professor as upon the 
professor. So are all of God’s commandments. One who is 
disobedient and rebellious will not have any heart to say in 
the day of judgment, “Lord, I never professed religion.” No 
such excuse will avail. Open rebellion is not less damning 
than secret hypocrisy. Spurgeon says to one who prides 
himself on his making no profession: “You imagine that 
when you stand before God, if you tell him, ‘Lord, I never 
professed to love thee, I never pretended to serve thee,’ God 
will accept your impudence as honesty—that he will look 
upon your presumption as sincerity! Why, sir, you can not 
mean what you say; you must have deceived yourself most 
terribly if you do. Your honesty in avowing yourself to be 
a slave of Satan! Your effrontery in declaring that you 
are steeped up to the very throat in sin, is this to be an 
apology for your sin? O man! be wiser.” 

298 MOTIVES 

We shall not make much out in trying to follow Christ, 
if the question of profit and loss determines the service 
we shall render him. Mercenary considerations should 
have no weight whatever in deciding the Christian position 
we shall undertake to fill. Such a motive is akin to that 
which actuated Judas, when he betrayed his master for 
thirty pieces of silver. 

Our inquiry should be, “Lord, what wilt thou have me 


168 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


to do?” The answer to that should decide our choice. 
It may involve a life service of self-denial. What of that: 
The greater will be the reward in the eternal world. Christ 
did not die rich. The apostles did not die rich; yet how 
they triumphed over poverty. “As poor, yet making many 
rich; as having nothing, and yet possessing all things.” 
What millionaire ever felt like that? 

299 MOTIVES, Worldly, Fatal in Choosing Christ 

The crime of Judas did not consist in the amount of 
money which he received for betraying Christ, but in the 
fact that he betrayed him at all. 

Dr. Stephen Olin was right when he said: “Whoever 
stops to inquire whether it may cost him sacrifices to be 
a Christian, with any intention to hesitate if it does, has ad¬ 
mitted a consideration utterly incompatible with his becom¬ 
ing a Christian at all. Whoever chooses his creed or his 
church with any, the slightest, reference to the honor, or 
the ease, or the emolument it may give or withhold, does, 
by such an admission, utterly vitiate all his claim to have any 
part or lot in the matter of saving piety. I do not speak 
of those who, knowingly and deliberately, make these their 
chief ground of preference; but I affirm that it is wholly 
anti-Christian, and an insult to a crucified Savior, to yield 
any, the smallest, place to worldly motives in choosing the 
Christian position which - we will occupy. Let Christ and 
conscience decide in this matter. ‘Put ye on the Lord Jesus 
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the 
lusts thereof.’ The gospel will admit of no compromise here. 
This is its point of honor, which it can not, and will not, 
yield by a single iota. I feel called upon to use the lan¬ 
guage of unmeasured denunciation against a mistake so 
often fatal to hopeful beginnings in religion—so very often 
fatal to the religious prospects of young men.” 

This is Christianity as we learned it when a young man. 
It has not changed. A person whose religious principles are 
in the market has no claim to the name of a Christian. He 
lacks the primary element of the Christian character. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


169 


300 NEW YEAR, A Happy 

We wish a Happy New Year to all our readers! May 
the richest blessings from the Father of mercies rest upon 
you! To a great extent, our happiness depends upon our¬ 
selves. If the conscience is not at ease, there is no such 
thing as happiness. You can not have a good conscience 
until, as far as possible, you have made all wrongs right, 
and had, through the atoning blood, your “hearts sprinkled 
from an evil conscience.” Give yourself at once to God to be 
right at any cost. Health and happiness are connected. 
By obedience to God’s natural laws, health is preserved. 
If it has been injured by sin, come to God by repentance 
and reformation and faith, and strive to secure for your¬ 
self the promise, “For I will restore health unto thee.” But 
above all, if you would be happy, you must have the Com¬ 
forter to abide with you forever. This you can not have 
unless you walk closely with the Lord. He can support 
you in trials and afflictions, make you patient in tribulation, 
guide you aright in all the affairs of life, light up the 
valley of the shadow of death, and minister to you an 
entrance abundantly into the everlasting Kingdom of our 
Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. Whatever else you have at 
this opening of the year, be determined to have the in¬ 
dwelling Spirit. 

301 NO-SECTISM 

An association of forty-five years with members of 
churches has brought us in contact with some sectarianism 
and church bigotry. But we have never found sectarianism 
pure and unmixed in any of the churches. In the church 
there is, with it, some charity for those of other denomina¬ 
tions. 

But for genuine, unadulterated sectarianism; for unmit¬ 
igated, ferocious bigotry, that tolerates no dissenting opin¬ 
ion, that goes to the extent of the law in its efforts to kill 
off those whom it assumes to control but who do not sub¬ 
mit to its dictation, we must go to a leader of a no-sect sect. 
Here we find it in its pure form, restrained by none of the 


170 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


amenities of life, guided by no principle. If you come in 
collision with it, it will assume as fact anything which it 
wishes to believe concerning you, and then proceed to an- 
thematize you “with bell, book and candle,” as heartily 
as if your condemnation had been pronounced by an infal¬ 
lible tribunal. No-sectism is a prolific breeder of sectarian¬ 
ism. It is the soil on which bigotry thrives. 

302 OBEDIENCE Demanded 

If we love God we shall obey him, not only in some 
things, but in all things. We shall keep his commands 
because they are his commands. He who does anything 
because it is fashionable, is really obeying fashion, al¬ 
though what he does is in accordance with the will of God. 
The thing done may be right, but the bad motive robs it of 
its virtue. A soldier who undertook to obey only such 
commands of his officers as he chose to obey, would not 
be tolerated. The true test of obedience is found in our 
willingness to do what we know is right, when it is con¬ 
trary to our inclinations. The miracle in the case of the 
kine which, yoked to a cart and left to their own guidance, 
took the road to the land of Israel, consisted in the fact 
that they went away from home, and away from their own 
calves. When you do for your religion only what is fash¬ 
ionable, or what appears to be for your own interest, you 
do no more than any worldling. Publicans and sinners do 
the same. Anybody who can afford it, can wear fine clothes 
to church. But to dress plain because God commands it, 
manifests a desire to please God. “And why call ye me, 
Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” 

303 OBEDIENCE A Test of Friendship for Christ 

The freedom of the Spirit is not a spirit of insubordi¬ 
nation. Said a Grecian philosopher: “The glory of a 
Spartan is in knowing how to obey well.” Hence the 
Spartans made a record unequalled in the history of the 
world. Three hundred of them, under Leonidas, 480 years 
before Christ, at Thermopylae, a narrow pass in the moun¬ 
tains, stopped an army of about a million under Xerxes, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


171 


the king of Persia. Christ makes universal obedience the 
test of friendship. “Ye are my friends, if ye do whatsoever 
I command you” (John 15:14). A religion which makes 
great professions of love for Christ, but pays no attention 
to any of his commands but such as are, for the time being, 
popular, is not the religion of Christ. A true Christian 
obeys Christ at the loss of all things. He proves his faith 
genuine by obedience, when obedience brings scorn and 
obloquy, loss of position, and loss of life, if need be. He 
has the martyr spirit. We must not expect that anything 
less than this will take us through to glory. 

304 OBEDIENCE to God’s Commands Mark of Christian 

No one has a right to claim to be a child of God who 
does not obey God. God’s Word does not need, in order to 
secure the obedience of his children, any indorsement from 
popular opinion or from the minister. “Behold, to obey 
is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of 
rams” (1 Sam. 15:22). 

The old declaration and promise still hold good. “Be¬ 
hold, I set before you this day a blessing and a curse; a 
blessing, if ye obey the commandments of the Lord your 
God, which I command you this day: and a curse if ye 
will not obey the commandments of the Lord your God” 
(Deut. 11:26, 27). 

Christ gives universal obedience to his commands as the 
mark which distinguishes his friends from his enemies. 
He declares that those who do not obey him have 
no right to profess to be his servants. “And why call ye me, 
Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?” (Luke 
0:46). This sentimental religion, which makes a great 
deal of Christian ordinances and festivals, and pays no at¬ 
tention to what Christ says about self-denial and a life de¬ 
voted to the good of others, has no saving efficacy whatever. 
It deceives to the loss of the soul. 

305 OBEDIENCE to Our Superiors 

As Christians we must not only obey Christ, but we 
must render proper obedience to those whom Christ in his 


172 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


providence has placed over us. The Apostle lays down the 
order with all plainness: “Obey them that have the rule 
over you, and submit yourselves: for they watch for your 
souls as they that must give account, that they may do it 
with joy and not with grief: for that is unprofitable for 
you” (Heb. 13:17). To the Corinthians he wrote: “For to 
this end also did I write, that I might know the proof of 
you, whether ye be obedient in all things” (2 Cor. 2:9). 

The obedience must be in all cases in the Lord. If our 
spiritual, or even our civil rulers, require us to do anything 
which plainly conflicts with the commands of Christ, our 
duty is plain. Whenever there is a conflict of authority, 
“we ought to obey God rather than men” (Acts 5: 29). But 
it should be clear that there is such a conflict. We must 
not mistake the dictates of our own pride or self-will for 
a spirit of obedience. 

306 ORDER Essential 

There may be power without order, but it is often 
useless and sometimes injurious. There is power in the 
cyclone—but it leaves ruin in its path. It is the steady 
breeze that sends the vessel on joyously to the harbor. 
There is power in the torrent which an insignificant stream 
sometimes becomes; but it carries desolation with it. The 
steady rivers turn the mills and float the ships. The 
Apostle commands us to be filled with the Spirit, but in the 
same breath enjoins us to be under control. There may be 
so much system in our meetings that they become me¬ 
chanical; there may be so little that they run themselves 
out, leaving no results but wasted energies and disappointed 
hopes. An unorganized rabble; no matter how great may 
be their number, or how wild and desperate their valor, 
are no match for a few well-disciplined soldiers, ably com¬ 
manded and standing together. 

307 ORDER AND POWER 

A meeting can not be run successfully unless the one 
having it in charge has the ability and skill to give it 
proper direction and keep it well in hand. Men who can 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


173 


not submit to control are never fit for control. Lawless 
zeal may excite the admiration of some, but it does not 
convert sinners into saints, nor reform society. A comet 
may attract more notice than the sun, but it does not make 
the corn grow, or the buds open into blossoms, and the 
blossoms mature into fruit. A well-organized church, 
though with but little apparent life, will last longer and 
do more good than a mere association which seems ready to 
take the world through its exuberance of life. Some have 
died prematurely because they had not body enough for 
their souls. If we would work successfully in the cause 
of God we should take for our motto, order and power. 

308 OPPOSITION, The Godly May Experience 

Jonathan Edwards was one of the most godly men of his 
day. He is generally regarded as one of the greatest the¬ 
ologians of any age. His biographer says: “For many years 
Mr. Edwards was very happy in the love and esteem of his 
people, and there was, during that period, the greatest pros¬ 
pect of his living and dying so. Indeed, he was almost the 
last minister in all New England that would have been 
thought likely to have been opposed by his people. Yet, 
after laboring with wonderful success at Northampton for 
twenty-four years, he was ignominiously dismissed by his 
people, because he maintained that no persons ought to be 
admitted to the Lord’s Supper ‘who do not make a pro¬ 
fession of real Christianity.’ ” Continuing to reside in the 
town for some months after his dismission, they, though they 
had no pastor, refused to allow him to occupy the pulpit 
which he had filled with such marked ability and success. 
Yet he was an amiable, prudent man, willing to concede 
anything that did not imply surrender of Christian prin¬ 
ciples. He was afterwards chosen president of New Jersey 
College, which position he filled with great ability and to 
general satisfaction. 

309 OPPOSITION, Stand Firm Against 

Do not be intimidated by opposition. It can not harm 
you if you stand firm. The tree constantly shaken by the 


174 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


winds strikes deeper its roots. If there is.a spark of fire 
left in a brand, run with it against the wind, and you will 
have a flame. So if there is any slumbering grace in your 
soul, take your stand against fashionable vice and fplly, 
in yourself, in your family, and in your church, and you will 
soon feel 

“that flame of living fire 
Which shone so bright in saints of old.” 

Lie down in quiet, and the fire divine will utterly go out. 

Where devils hasten to the assault, angels will hasten 
to the rescue. Christ.has not promised you freedom from 
persecution, but he has promised untold joys in the world 
to come to those who endure it bravely for his sake. Then 
stand firm though wicked men and devils rage. 

The conversion of no one in these times is clearer or more 
thorough than was that of Saul of Tarsus. Yet he did not 
think, because he was supernaturally converted, that there¬ 
fore his eternal salvation was secured. He felt quite the 
contrary. After he had been a successful minister for 
years he wrote: “I therefore so run, not as uncertainly; so 
fight I, not as one that beateth the air; but I keep under my 
body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, 
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast¬ 
away” (1 Cor. 9:26, 27). Mark! He did not run and 
fight, and subjugate his body, simply that he might be more 
useful, and not bring the cause of God into reproach; but that 
he might not lose his own soul! 

The salvation of us who preach the gospel is not by that 
fact secured. One may drop from the pulpit into the pit. 
He who has persuaded others to come to Christ may lose 
the Spirit of Christ from his heart. 

310 OURSELVES, We Should Know 

Hidden diseases are often dangerous diseases. A per¬ 
son may think he is in health until he is past help. One, too, 
may think he is in a good spiritual condition until he wakes 
up in eternity to find out that he had been deceived into 
thinking he was all right when he was all wrong. It is a 
difficult thing to know ourselves. It is only in the light of 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


175 


the Holy Spirit that we are able to see our true spiritual 
condition. The Psalmist asks the question, “Who can un¬ 
derstand his errors?” We can much more readily under¬ 
stand the errors of others than we can our own. The man 
who writes and talks most bitterly against another may 
be really guilty of the very offense of which the other is 
only accused, but is really innocent. One often condemns in 
another what he excuses in himself. Let us adopt the 
petition, “Cleanse thou me from secret faults.” 

311 PARENTS AND CHILDREN: Right Training 

Christian ,parents should have Christian children. This 
is what is naturally to be expected. Mohammedan parents 
never expect that their children will be anything but Mo¬ 
hammedans. Romanists take care that their children are 
Romanists. Those who are truly pious should spare no 
pains to train up their children in the paths of piety. God 
requires this. The happiness of the children requires that 
they should be trained up in the service of God. Their 
eternal salvation requires this! Christian parents who 
oppose their children in their efforts to lead a devoted 
Christian life are assuming a fearful responsibility. Christ 
says: “But whoso shall offend one of these little ones 
which believe in me, it were better for him that a millstone 
were hanged about his neck, and that he were drowned in 
the depth of the sea” (Matt. IS: 6). The case is aggra¬ 
vated when the little one turned out of the way is the child 
of the one who causes it to stumble. 


312 PARENTS AND CHILDREN: Overtenderness Cruel 

The overtenderness of some parents for their children 
is a great cruelty to the children. “It is good for a man 
that he bear the yoke in his youth” (Lam. 3:27). The 
yoke makes one serviceable. It is a great and permanent 
injury to any child to be brought up in habits of idleness. 
A Christian worker said, “When I was young I worked out 
by the month; and I went to college; and to this day I 
am in doubt as to which did me the most good. By work- 


176 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


ing out I formed habits of application, and of submission, 
and my physical constitution became strong and capable of 
enduring toil and hardship/’ So because you are on a circuit, 
and have boys able to work, do not think it necessary to buy 
or take a farm in order to give them employment. Let them 
learn a trade, or hire them out to a good brother to work 
on a farm. 

313 PARENTS Should Not Compromise 

If you can not get your children converted to God, you 
should not let them convert you to the world. It is a sad 
sight to see a mother, who was uncompromisingly true to 
God, and plain in her dress, and simple in her habits, when 
her children were small, become, when they are grown 
up, conformed to the world in order to please them. She 
may think that she will retain her hold on them by this 
means and get them saved; but the probability is that 
they will drag her with them down to perdition. Parents 
never gain any real, religious influence over their children 
by compromising. If you keep on the rock, you will be 
much more likely to bring them up to you by reaching 
down a helping hand, than you will be to push them up, by 
going down yourself to them amid the waves and billows 
of the world. Besides, the worldly advantages that you 
would gain for them by such a course are not likely to be 
realized. Where it looks as if promotion would be so easy, 
there are competitions, and strifes, and envyings, that you 
little dream of. The daughter that you would have wed 
a prosperous business man, may marry a reckless libertine. 
Where she expects to find a home, she may find a hell. It 
is better to marry in the Lord than in the world. But if 
worldly advantages are realized, too much is paid for them, 
if the soul is lost in order to secure them. They are not 
worth the price. Then, mother, do not dresfc up like a 
worldling to please the children. Do not, as you near 
eternity, get so short-sighted that you fail to see what 
tremendous interests are at stake. In the first great battle 
of life you have been victorious; hold with a steady courage, 
and be victorious to the end. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


177 


314 PARSONAGE PROPERTY 

Make the place where you live more pleasant and at¬ 
tractive for your living in it. We never lived in a parson¬ 
age but that we made repairs upon it, and left it in a 
better condition than we found it. We knew we could stay 
but two years at the most, but we set out fruit trees for 
the express purpose of having others enjoy the fruit. 
We all should be willing to confer benefits upon others, 
even when they do not know who it is that blesses them. 
God knows, and he assures us that for the benefits we 
confer upon others secretly he will reward us openly. If 
you believe it, then act accordingly. If you let the parson¬ 
age property go to decay, the fences fall down, and the 
garden become full of weeds, because you do not expect 
to stay upon the circuit more than a year or two, then do 
not profess holiness; do not profess religion. True holi¬ 
ness makes us considerate of others. It causes us to care 
for their welfare. • “Look not every man on his own things, 
but every man also on the things of others.” 

315 PASTORAL VISITING 

Preachers who settle down on a little circuit, and con¬ 
tent themselves with preaching twice on the Sabbath, and 
occasionally making a social visit, can not wonder why they 
are not supported. They sow sparingly, and it is God’s or¬ 
der that they shall reap sparingly. His direction is that 
“if any will not work, neither shall he eat.” The little that 
they do can hardly be called work. One who works at his 
trade as they do at their calling, would soon be out of 
work. Nobody would employ him. 

Brother, get up in the morning, get your chores out of 
the way, and do a good, honest, ten-hour day’s work for 
God, and see if you will not be supported! If you have not 
members enough to keep you busy visiting, go and visit sin¬ 
ners. Talk with them, pray with them, and make from 
three to ten pastoral visits every afternoon. Put in preach¬ 
ing appointments week-day evenings, in the schoolhouses 
around, and stir up the people to seek God. Be wholly 
given up to the work of saving souls. 


178 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


316 PASTORAL SUPPORT and Visiting 

Generally there are two sides to a question. If a 
preacher has not been supported properly, perhaps he 
has not done his duty faithfully. The people, if they could 
be heard, might complain that the preacher had failed to 
visit the members of his congregation; that he had mani¬ 
fested but little interest in the salvation of souls; that 
at the best he had merely performed his duties in an offi¬ 
cial, formal, perfunctory manner. Before we blame others, 
let us carefully consider whether we are not, in part at 
least, to blame. 

317 PATIENCE, A Useful Grace 

Patience is one of the most useful of the Christian 
graces. Scarcely an hour in the day passes without there 
is a call for its exercise. Growth in grace is always marked 
by growth in patience. We should be so filled with humble 
love that we can bear provocations without being provoked. 
We should have patience with our own blunderings, as well 
as with the mistakes and perversities of others. 

318 PATIENCE Will Have Its Reward 

A farmer planted a large pear orchard. The trees grew 
vigorously but bore no fruit for a number of years. Tired 
of waiting, the owner cut down the larger portion. The 
next year those that were left bore so abundantly, and such 
choice fruit, that he was amply repaid for all his labor. He 
was then sorry that he had not waited longer. 

Good Christians sometimes forget that “we are saved 
by hope” (Rom. 8:24). They deprive themselves of much 
comfort by always looking at the dark side. They antici¬ 
pate the worst, and their fears sometimes bring upon them 
the calamities which they dread. 

“Be hopeful, cheerful. Faith will bring 
A living joy to thee, 

And make thy life a hymn of praise, 

From doubt and murmurs free; 

Whilst like the sunbeam thou wilt bless, 

And bring to others happiness.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


179 


In the thickest darkness we must exhort ourselves as 
did the Psalmist: “Why art thou cast down, O my soul? 
and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God: 
for I shall yet praise him, who is the help of my counte¬ 
nance, and my God” (Ps. 42:11). 

319 PERFECT LOVE 

Perfect love is a Bible term. It means the same as 
entire sanctification, or holiness. But we prefer it, for the 
reason that, if a person professes perfect love, he will more 
readily see his inconsistency if he manifests any temper 
contrary to love! Besides, it will more readily be seen to 
be attainable. One conscious of his ignorance and imper¬ 
fection shrinks from speaking of himself as holy; but any 
one can love; and it will be hard for him to give a reason 
why he may not love God with all his heart, and his neigh¬ 
bor as himself. It is also a comprehensive term. Wesley 
says, “Perfect love implies: (1) Entire humility. (2) Abso¬ 
lute self-renunciation. (3) Unreserved resignation. (4) 
Such a union of our will with the Divine as makes the 
Christian one spirit with God.” Reader, do you enjoy per¬ 
fect love? Do you manifest it in the family? Towards 
those who oppose you? 

320 PERFECT LOVE Essential 

If you intend to get through to Heaven, then you must 
seek to be made perfect in love. You may be free, fearless, 
strong, and uncompromising; but unless you get the love 
that beareth all things, you will fall out with some one, 
indulge in hard feeling, and backslide. You may keep up 
your profesion for a while, but you will soon get where 
you will indorse what you once unsparingly condemned. 
There is no trouble in making a bag stand, if it is filled 
with wheat, and tied tight; but an empty bag falls down 
unless it is held up. If you would stand straight for God 
always, then keep filled with gentle love. Some of the 
greatest fighters we ever knew, but who were wanting in 
the “love that never faileth,” went over at last to those 
whom they had all their lifetime been opposing. We shall 


180 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


reach places in our experience where we shall fail unless 
we have the God-given charity that “beareth all things,” 
and ‘‘endureth all things.” 

321 PERSECUTION 

The greatest uninspired religious book was written in 
jail. No other book except the Bible has been published in 
as many languages as has the “Pilgrim’s Progress.” The 
crime for which John Bunyan was sent to jail by professed 
Christians was preaching Christ. They tried to limit his 
influence, but God made it the occasion of giving him an in¬ 
fluence unlimited by time or space. They offered him his 
liberty if he would promise not to preach. His noble an¬ 
swer was, “I am resolved to stay here till the moss shall 
grow upon my eyebrows, before I will promise not to declare 
what God has done for my soul.” The tongue was for a sea¬ 
son silenced, but the pen was unfettered, and his words of 
wisdom have gone forth to the ends of the world. 

Let us, then, be fearless for Christ. Persecution may 
open for us a wider field of usefulness than prosperity could. 
Let our care be to maintain our integrity, and God will take 
care of our influence. 

322 PERSECUTION, Firmness Under 

Never swerve from fidelity to Christ. You may be per¬ 
secuted ; but be firm and true, and you will either be de¬ 
livered, or you will win a martyr’s crown. Besides, your 
firmness under persecution may be the means of winning 
others. Eusebius records the following of James, the brother 
of John, whom Herod killed with the sword: “Concerning 
this James, Clemens, in the seventh book of his Institutions, 
relates a memorable history, speaking as he had heard from 
his predecessors. For he says, ‘that he that accused him 
before the judgment seat, seeing him openly and willingly 
testify and declare the faith of Christ, was moved thereat, 
and professed that he also was a Christian. And so,’ says 
he, ‘they were both together led away to suffer. And, as 
they were going, he beseeched James to pardon him; who, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


181 


after a short deliberation, said, “Peace be to thee,” and 
kissed him; and so they were both beheaded together.’ ” 

323 PERSECUTING CHRIST In His Disciples 

Persecuting the disciples of Christ is persecuting Christ. 
Saul of Tarsus said, “I persecuted this way unto the death, 
binding and delivering into prison both men and women.” 
When Christ appeared to him he did not know him, and in¬ 
quired who he was. The reply was, “I am Jesus of Naz¬ 
areth, whom thou persecutest” (Acts 22:8). Yet there is 
no evidence that Saul ever saw Jesus before this time. Per¬ 
sonally, Jesus was beyond the reach of persecution. But 
persecuting his disciples he counted as persecuting himself. 
It is still the same. Every indignity offered to a follower of 
Christ, because he belongs to Christ, is an indignity offered 
to Christ himself. Remember this, ye who treat with 
derision and scorn the humble ones who endeavor to follow 
Christ fully. When he sits upon his throne, judging man¬ 
kind according to their works, he will say to you, “Inas¬ 
much as ye did it unto one of the least of these, ye did 
it unto me.” 

324 PERSEVERANCE 

Perseverance is quite as necessary as valor to a soldier of 
the cross. It matters not how valiantly you fight, you will 
not be crowned if you run away before the war is ended. 
There was no braver man in our Revolutionary army than 
Benedict Arnold. But his treason spoiled it all. It is to 
them “who by patient continuance in well doing seek for 
glory and honour and immortality” that God shall render 
eternal life (Rom. 2:7). Many a revival that is started 
with great promise fails of glorious results for the want of 
perseverance in those who are carrying it on. They are too 
easily discouraged. A little privation and a little hardship 
overcome them. They do not like the cold. What soldier 
ever did? But do valiant soldiers mind the cold? They do 
not like to be out nights. Yet perhaps before they were con¬ 
verted they were often out much later in the service of the 
devil. Let us hold steady to our work till the crown is won. 


182 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


325 PERSEVERANCE Will Secure the Reward 

To gain Heaven we must endure to the end. Persevering 
efforts, and not spasmodic efforts, win the prize. A good 
plan is a good beginning for a house, but if it goes no 
farther it will afford no shelter. Seeker says: “That mar¬ 
iner has no praise who sinks his ship before he comes to the 
harbor; that soldier obtains no glory who lays down his 
arms in the heat of the battle. Some say that the chrysolite, 
which is of a golden color in the morning, loses its splendor 
before the evening; such are the glittering shows of the 
hypocrites. Though fiery meteors fall to the earth, yet 
fixed stars remain in heaven.” 

Trains that run fastest are wrecked the worst if they 
do not keep the track. “As ye have therefore received Christ 
Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him; rooted and built 
up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been 
taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving” (Col. 2:6,7). 

326 PERSONAL LABOR, Manner of 

If you have a duty to do to the church, do not do it 
before the world. Some preachers, in sermons about their 
members, especially at camp-meetings, make the impression 
that they are all a set of hypocrites. This they call “hew¬ 
ing to the line.” It is simply wholesale slander. Such ser¬ 
mons do harm. Preachers who talk in this way need not 
wonder that they have small congregations. Destroy the 
confidence of the world in your church, and sinners will 
say, “Get your members converted, and then preach to us.” 
It takes more grace and courage to go to your members 
personally, and tell them what you think wrong in their 
spirit, and conduct, than it does to denounce them publicly; 
but it will do you and them much more good. Think of 
these things, and ask God for the wisdom that cometh 
from above. 

327 PERSONAL LIBERTY Plea a Subterfuge 

Where there is shame there is still hope. One who is 
ashamed of his course of life may forsake that course. 

This makes it look as if there might be hope in the case 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


183 


of the paid advocates of the saloon. They never plead 
for the saloon. They never speak directly in its favor. They 
do not mention it. They ignore its existence. The battle for 
the saloon is called the battle for “self-respect and free¬ 
dom.” The champions of the saloon are called “liberty- 
loving, law-abiding, absolutely temperance citizens, native 
and adopted.” The advocates of prohibition are called 
“maniacs,” and of them it is said, “When they become a 
majority it will be time for decent people to emigrate to a 
more sympathetic despotism—Russia for example.” 

If such language is used from shame by those who have 
sold themselves to advocate the liquor interest, then there is 
hope in their case. But we fear it is adopted—not from 
shame, but from policy. They know that to meet the real 
issue would be to court defeat. So they assume to defend 
that which no prohibitionist has attacked—“ personal 
liberty” 

328 PERSONAL WORK Commended 

Harlan Page was a great soul-saver. He was only a 
private member of the church, and never felt called to 
preach, and never attempted to preach. But he was the 
means of the conversion of thousands, and he raised up many 
strong churches. He died at the age of forty-three. On 
his death-bed he said: 

“I look upon personal conversation and prayer toith indi¬ 
viduals as among my most successful endeavors, and hope I 
have done some good. But it is not me. It is all of grace in 
Christ.” In his early Christian life he “ Resolved , whenever 
possible, to address my brethren and sisters on the concerns 
of eternity, and endeavor to stir up both them and myself 
to diligence and engagedness in the great work of saving 
souls.” Reader, would it not be well for you to form a 
similar resolution? 

329 PIETY a Power 

The piety of a church is the measure of its spiritual 
power. Its political power is usually in an inverse pro- 


184 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


portion to its piety. In voting, members prevail; in inter¬ 
cessions with God, faith and holy living prevail. One Abra¬ 
ham outweighs, in God’s balance, a dozen Sodoms with all 
their millionaires. Stephen Olin, a man of great intellect 
and of deep piety, said: “A band of a hundred, or of fifty, 
or even of ten, living Christians, strong in mutual affection 
and confidence, and entire in their devotedness to Christ 
and to the salvation of souls, would, I am confident, wield 
an amount of religious influence immeasurably greater than 
is usually exerted by our largest and most flourishing 
churches.” This was the deliberate opinion of a man com¬ 
petent to judge. 

Why may not every Free Methodist society be such a 
band? It may be; it should be. Reader, will you do your 
best to make your society such a band? 

330 PLEASURE-LOVING PROFESSORS 

Paul gives as one of the marks of the last days that 
professors of religion will be “lovers of pleasures more 
than lovers of God.” 

That these days are upon us many unmistakable evidences 
plainly show. It is getting to be quite the fashion to build 
churches with rooms specially fitted up for the purpose of 
gratifying the love of self-indulgence. Kitchens and dining¬ 
rooms, and parlors, are finished and furnished in houses of 
worship built by a denomination which says it was raised 
up “to spread scriptural holiness through the land.” These 
are used, not to feed the hungry, but to provide entertain¬ 
ment for the saints and sinners belonging to the congre¬ 
gation. The Holston Methodist says: “Drinking, dancing, 
card-playing Methodists, Baptists, Presbyterians and Epis¬ 
copalians are doing more to bring Christianity into dis¬ 
repute than the whole cohort of infidels in the land.” There 
is no doubt but that the great hinderance to the spread of 
the gospel is the want of saving grace in the great mass of 
professed Christians. We must be careful how we encourage 
in their delusions those who think they are Christians, when 
they give good evidence that they are not. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


185 


831 PLEASURE AND PIETY 

The popular churches appear to be going extensively into 
the amusement business. In the winter season church 
frolics are provided, sufficiently worldly and sensual to 
satisfy any decent sinner. In the summer pleasure resorts 
are fitted up by ocean and lakes, where piety and pleasure 
can be combined by saint and sinner, according to the taste 
of each. Even so staid a people as the Free-will Baptists 
have hitherto been are being drawn into this insatiable 
maelstrom, in which so many staunch ships of Zion are 
being wrecked. They have purchased a tract of land on the 
border of Lake Keuka, in Central New York, for a de¬ 
nominational summer resort. 

Everything indicates that we are in the last days spoken 
of by the Apostle, when “men shall be lovers of pleasures 
more than lovers of God; having a form of godliness, but 
denying' the power thereof.” Reader, are you connected 
with such a church? If so, the command of God to you 
is, “From such turn away” (2 Tim. 3:5). 

332 POLITICS AND SPIRITUALITY 

When political excitement runs high, those who would 
save their souls must watch and pray, or they will be car¬ 
ried away with it. No one can become absorbed in politics 
and maintain his spirituality. While a child of God should 
take a proper interest in civil affairs, he can not become 
engrossed in them without endangering his own salvation. 
As Christ’s kingdom is not of this world, his servants can¬ 
not fight political battles with common, carnal weapons. 
If they say anything on political matters, it should be in a 
quiet manner and with the utmost candor. A saint must 
hold to the truth. But in political matters there is so 
much misstatement and exaggeration that it is often diffi¬ 
cult to tell what is truth. Whatever interest we may feel 
in the election of any one, we must have a deeper interest 
in making our own calling and election sure. 

One of the best workers we ever knew outside of the 
ministry utterly backslid through meddling with politics, and 


186 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


died in a backslidden state. He was a man of good ability. 
His convictions were deep, and be bad tbe courage to stand 
by them. Tbe utmost that persecution could do, could not 
induce bim to take sides against those wbo were endeavoring 
to promote tbe work of Bible holiness. He defended them 
with tongue and pen and means. In all their conflicts he stood 
with them, shoulder to shoulder. It was at a time when 
the issue of slavery was before the people. He took the 
side of the oppressed. His zeal and ability made him prom¬ 
inent. He was drawn into politics by degrees, and put in 
office. He held to his religious convictions, but lost his 
experience. The last time we saw him, he said he did not 
enjoy any religion. But, grasping our hand warmly, and 
with eyes full of tears, he exclaimed, “O Brother Roberts, 
stand firmly. If the Free Methodists should give out, I do 
not know what would become of the rest of us.” Not long 
after this he was, by a sudden accident, called to the spirit 
world. 

333 POSITION Not to be Sought 

The efforts often spent in striving for position, if em¬ 
ployed in doing present duties well, would be much more 
likely to secure it. 

334 POPULAR CHURCHES: Fatal Error in Teaching 

Calvinism, in its more repulsive features, may have had' 
its day. But the most insidious and dangerous part of it— 
the final and unconditional salvation of believers, that is, 
the elect—is still in vogue. We doubt if it ever had a 
greater currency, or more dreadful effect, than at present. 
Generally, in the popular churches, the preacher takes it 
for granted that those who belong to the church are all be¬ 
lievers, in the New Testament sense. If believers, they 
are taught that they must not doubt that their eternal 
salvation is assured. No inquiry is to be instituted as to 
whether they were ever born of the Spirit. No notice is 
taken of the fact that they never met the conditions of 
salvation as laid down by Christ, and that they are still, 
the same as ever, conformed to the world. If they back- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


187 


slide utterly, they need feel no alarm, as they are sure to be 
brought back to God; as taught in a hymn generally sung: 

“If I forget him and wander away, 

Kindly he follows wherever I stray; 

Back to his dear, loving arms do I flee 
When I remember that Jesus loves me.” 

This doctrine is deluding thousands to their eternal undo¬ 
ing. It is sending multitudes from the churches down to 
hell! No, it is dangerous to forget God, and wander from 
him ever so little. Falling bodies acquire momentum as 
they fall. Every minute it takes more to stop them. Be¬ 
lievers need still to heed the warning that David gave to 
his truly converted son, “If thou seek him, he will be found 
of thee; but if thou forsake him, he will cast thee off for¬ 
ever” (1 Chron. 28:9). 

335 POWER, A Gift of God 

The Apostle declares that the kingdom of God is not in 
word, but in power. Creeds are words; therefore, a belief 
in a creed, however, correct, does not, of itself, constitute 
a Christian. Professions are words; therefore, professions 
do not prove that one is in a state of salvation. If we are 
saved, we have power—power over our tempers, over our 
appetites and passions, over all the power of the devil, over 
sin in all its forms. This is of greater importance than 
the ability to make fluent prayers and preach fine sermons. 
Have you this power? It can not be obtained by reading. 
No amount of learning will produce it. It is the gift of 
God. It is bestowed in answer to persevering, penitential 
prayer. “He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, 
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city” 
(Prov. 16:32). 

336 POWER of God Exhibited 

When Herod put Peter into prison, the saints had but 
little hopes of his life. The king had killed James, and 
seeing that it pleased the people, he aimed to add to his 
popularity by killing Peter also. He thought he made it 


188 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


impossible for him to escape. He put him in prison. He 
had each of his hands bound to the hand of a soldier, so 
that Peter slept with a soldier each side of him. Guards 
were stationed before the door of the prison, by night and 
by day. The great iron gate added to the security. Escape 
seemed impossible. 

But when God undertakes to deliver a man, chains and 
guards and prisons are of no account. Impossibilities van¬ 
ish, like mist before the sun. The strongest chains are no 
more than spider’s webs. The highest walls are like the 
smoothest pavement. The guards are no better than so 
many statues. At the touch of the angel, the chains fell 
from Peter’s hands; the guards slept on undisturbed; the 
bolted door and massive iron gates opened of their own 
accord; and the servant of the Lord was led out into the 
free light of Heaven. 

Nothing can withstand the power of God. He is the Lord 
Almighty! Blessed is the man that trusteth in him. 

337 POWER by Restraint 

Power results largely from restraints. Powder spread 
thinly on the ground, and set on fire, makes a harmless 
flash; but confine it in a gun, behind a bullet, aim it right 
and apply a spark, and it does deadly execution. Cover a 
hillside a mile wide with water an inch deep, and it only 
washes off the soil and leaves it barren; confine it in a 
narrow channel, and bring it in contact with the necessary 
machinery, and it turns the largest mill. Some people who 
seem to be honest, and want to do good, are wasting their 
lives in idle vaporings, because they can not bear restraint. 
They may belong to a church to the principles of which 
they are strongly attached; but if a conference of men, as 
godly as themselves and understanding the Scriptures as 
well as they do, disagree with them as to the best mode 
of reaching a result at which they all are aiming, they 
promptly withdraw and set up for themselves. In trying 
to influence everybody they influence nobody. After a few 
flashes that excite momentary attention, they subside and 
are heard of no more. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


189 


338 POWER, Enduement of 

The great want of our preachers is the enduement of 
power from on high. Oh, that they would consent to see 
it! But that is one of the lamentable features of a desti¬ 
tution of the Spirit, that those who are without it do not 
know that they have not all the influence of the Holy Spirit 
that they need. They are like people who are asleep, but 
who do not know they are asleep. The direction which 
Christ gives to this class of preachers is, “Anoint thine eyes 
with eyesalve, that thou mayest see.” Until this is done, 
they grope in the dark, ignorant of their own condition 
and of the condition of those entrusted to their care. They 
think they are all right, when in reality they are lacking 
in that which is essential. 

If one is going on a journey he is careful to see that 
he is supplied with everything necessary for the journey. 
Why should one then attempt to make the journey of life 
without having so much of God’s blessed Spirit as will make 
the journey joyous and the end glorious? Especially since 
every one who will obey God may have the fulness of the 
Spirit. 

Beloveds, do not go before the people with dry sermons, 
and preaching prayers, and scolding exhortations. Go to 
God in earnest prayer, till he send upon you the fulness of 
the Spirit. Stay at the mercy-seat until endued with power 
from on high. 

Long openings of meetings, long prayers and long testi¬ 
monies, and long sermons, are unerring indications of a lack 
of the Holy Spirit. It does not take long to start an engine 
when the steam is up; one stroke of a pump in constant use 
will bring water. So it does not take a long time for one 
who is filled with the Spirit to get things moving in the 
congregation. It was a short sermon which Peter preached 
when the Holy Ghost fell on all them that heard the word. 
(Acts 10:44). It was a short prayer he made when Jesus 
stretched out his hand and took him safely across the yield¬ 
ing waters to the ship. Pray more in secret, and you will 
not need to pray so long in public. A man may pound in 
the dark without hitting a nail, and when he does hit it 


190 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


he is more likely to spoil it than he is to drive it; but he who 
works in the light can, with a stroke or two, drive the nail 
in a sure place. Go to the people from directly communing 
with God, and then you can speak short and to the point, 
and with power. 

339 POWER To Speak 

To speak w’ith power, we must have power. The schools 
may teach us words and how to array them in proper order, 
but we can not use them so as to silence gainsayers and con¬ 
quer the candid, unless we are filled with the Holy Ghost. 
Dr. Adam Clarke, a great scholar, says: “He who is taught 
in spiritual matters by Christ Jesus has a better gift than 
the tongue of the learned. He who is taught in the school 
of Christ will speak to the point, and intelligently, too; 
though his words may not have that polish with which 
they who prefer sound to sense are often carried aw r ay.” 

Incoherent, random talk is never inspired by the Spirit 
of God. Those who speak in the Spirit use plain language, 
but it is appropriate to the occasion, and with convincing 
power. 

340 PRAISE OF MEN Destructive 

If you want the praise of men, and must have it, then 
abandon all idea of being a Christian. Did not the Master 
say, “Woe unto you when all men speak well of you?” Who 
that ever served God with fidelity was the favorite of the 
generation in which he lived? “Which of the prophets have 
not your fathers persecuted?” (Acts 7:52). Are we better 
than they? Then do not compromise the truth of God to 
please men, 

“But speak in words of living power; 

They fall like drops of scalding rain 
That plashed before the burning shower 
Swept o’er the cities of the plain. 

“Then scowling Hate turns deadly pale, 

Then Passion’s half-coiled adders spring, 

And, smitten through their leprous mail, 

Strike right and left in hopes to sting.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


191 


If you are true to God and stand to your convictions 
you will doubtless get stung. But the wound will not be 
fatal. An application of the balm of Gilead will heal it at 
once. And in the end you will come off victorious. Scars 
upon the conqueror are counted glorious, for they show how 
hardly contested were the battles which he has won. Then 
be just as plain in your dress and outspoken in your lan¬ 
guage as God would have you. 

341 PRAYER, Manner of 

When people pray as an intellectual and moral exercise 
they can pray by rule. A man who is used to it can make 
a speech on any given subject on his knees, or on his feet 
with his eyes shut, afe well as he can standing with his eyes 
open. But praying in earnest is quite another matter. He 
who prays in the Spirit must pray as the Spirit leads. Ba¬ 
laam, when he spoke from inspiration, could not say what 
the king had employed him to say, even though he himself 
wished to say it. “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our in¬ 
firmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we 
ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with 
groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom. 8 : 26). Then let 
us have no programs for prayers. The prayer-meeting 
should be the place where earnest souls hold audience with 
Deity. Let it not be turned into a place of entertainment. 
Let it not be made an occasion for exchanging compliments 
or of paying off old grudges. Let it be the vestibule of 
Heaven, where we come with boldness “unto the throne of 
grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in 
time of need.” 

342 PRAYER, Answer to, Recognized 

No earthly interest can compare in value with the sal¬ 
vation of the soul. This life is short: eternity is long. He 
makes a tremendous mistake who sacrifices his eternal in¬ 
terests for anything or everything which this world can 
give. 

A mother was greatly distressed for the salvation of her 
son, who had been raised to the pinnacle of earthly grandeur, 


192 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


as superintendent of finance in France, in the days of its 
power and splendor. When, after years of prosperity, he 
was arrested, his pious mother, upon hearing of it, threw 
herself upon her knees and said: “I thank thee, O God; I 
have always prayed for his salvation, and here is the way 
to it!” The mother was both sane and sensible. The son 
died in prison, but the venerable mother had good reason 
for hope in his death. 

Reader, are you doing all you can for the salvation of 
your family and your friends? Christ says, “He that is not 
with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me 
scattereth abroad.” 

343 PRAYER, Ardent, The Lack of the Church 

We must not only believe in God, but we must believe 
what God says. We must take his declarations, one by one, 
and place full confidence in each. We can be truly happy 
only as we are happy in God. The poet Young says: 

“A Diety believed, is joy begun; 

A Diety adored, is 'joy advanced; 

A Diety beloved, is joy matured. 

Each branch of piety delight inspires; 

Faith builds a bridge from this world to the next, 

O’er death’s dark gulf, and all its horror hides; 

Praise, the sweet exaltation of our joy, 

That joy exalts, and makes jt sweeter still; 

Prayer ardent opens Heaven, lets down a stream 
Of glory on the consecrated hour 
Of man, in audience with the Deity, 

Who worships the great God, that instant joins 
The first in Heaven, and sets his foot on hell.” 

The great lack in all the churches of the land is ardent 
prayer. 

344 PRAYER, Want of Fervency In, Accounted for 

Professed Christians do not pray as much and as 
fervently as they should. The cause of this is, doubtless, 
in good part, the prevailing materialism of the age. But 
God has the same control over matter as he has over mind. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


193 


So we are to go to him with all our wants. Christ, when 
upon earth, did not confine his good offices to the souls of 
men. He did much for the bodies of many. The Apostle 
puts no restrictions when he says, “Be careful for nothing; 
but in every thing by prayer and supplication with thanks¬ 
giving let your requests be made known unto God” (Phil. 
4:6). Your requests may not always be granted. It may 
not be best for you that they should. But this glorious re¬ 
sult will follow—the peace of God will reign in your heart. 
God knows what will do us the most good. When we com¬ 
mit all to God’s wisdom and mercy it is easier to joyfully 
submit to his providences. 

345 PRAYER Must Not be Neglected 

When work hastens, do not let prayer slacken. The 
more we have to do, the more clear-headed we should be. 
False motions exhaust the strength more than do well-di¬ 
rected motions. Badly-aimed blows may hurt the one who 
gives them. Getting mad at men, or boys, or teams, or 
tools, hinders work more than family prayers. A team, 
to do good work, must have time in which to eat. Then, if 
you would have worldly business go off right, see that your 
business with God is rightly done. Wherever you pitch your 
tent, there build an altar. Take time to pray, to read your 
Bible, and to get blessed. Let this be your first and most im¬ 
portant business. “The blessing of the Lord, it maketh rich, 
and he addeth no sorrow with it” (Prov. 10: 22). 

346 PRAYER, Prevailing 

If you would be a man of God you must be a man of 
prayer. After Jacob had wrestled all night in prayer, the 
angel said to him: “Thy name shall be called no more Ja¬ 
cob, but Israel; for as a prince hast thou power with God 
and with men, and hast prevailed” (Gen. 32:28). He who 
would, as a Christian, have power with men, must have 
power with God. If you prevail with God you will over¬ 
come all who oppose. Giants still fall before the little 
Davids who go forth, strong in the Lord of Hosts. The 


194 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


most effectual fighting we do, is done on our knees. Vic¬ 
tories won in our closets are harbingers of victories to be 
won on the great battlefield of life. “Prayer ardent opens 
Heaven,” not only for ourselves, but also for others. Preach¬ 
ing accomplishes but little unless it is attended with a good 
deal of praying. It is Divine power we need; and Divine 
power comes in answer to earnest, obedient, fervent prayer. 

347 PRAYER, Simple-hearted, Prevails 

Prayers, whether public or private, should be made to 
God, and should not be addressed to the ears of men. When 
we prevail with God in our prayers, men are moved. Jacob 
had power with God, and Esau was unmanned. Successful 
praying removed the necessity of fighting. 

Win the battle on your knees, and you need not fear your 
foes. Do not make prayers when you pray. Rhetoric and 
eloquence are of no account whatever before the mercy- 
seat. David says, “God heard my cry.” Figures of speech 
were of no account, but the simplest expression of heart¬ 
felt want brought immediate relief. In simple language, but 
in strong faith, make your requests known unto God. 

348 PRAYER, Christless, Unavailing 

An old man felt that he must die soon and was not 
ready to die. He had led what is called a moral life, 
but he saw that this was not sufficient. For many years 
he had been an “accepted Mason,” but this did not assure 
him of his acceptance with God. He became truly con¬ 
cerned for the salvation of his soul. He began to prey. 
He seemed to pray with great earnestness, but peace did 
not come to his soul. His wife, a devoted Christian, no¬ 
ticed that he never mentioned Christ in his prayers. He 
always prayed to “Our Father.” She explained to him 
the meaning of the words, “If ye shall ask any thing in my 
name, I will do it.” He caught the idea. He came to 
God through Christ, and found pardon and peace, and died 
in holy triumph. 

“Up to that time,” said his wife, “I could see no harm 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


195 


in Masonry. I now see that it is a soul-destroying snare— 
a well-baited trap of the devil to catch souls.” 

349 PRAYER, Time Must be Secured for 

It is well to look at the reason which the apostles gave 
in calling for assistants. It was not that they had too 
much to do and wanted to make it easier. It was not to 
escape the odium that one must almost necessarily incur 
in deciding upon conflicting interests. No selfish consid¬ 
eration prompted them to call for help. They were inspired 
simply by love of souls. They wished to devote themselves 
wholly to spiritual work without any hindrance. “But we 
will give ourselves continually to prayer , and to the min¬ 
istry of the word." Adam Clarke says: “Even apostles 
could not live without prayer; they had no independent 
graces; what they had could not be retained without an in¬ 
crease: and for this increase they must make prayer and 
supplication, depending continually on their God. A min¬ 
ister who does not pray much , studies in vain.” 

The great want of the church in these days is praying 
preachers. The apostles placed praying first. It was not 
public nor occasional. Continually. Preachers who fol¬ 
low this example succeed in their work. 

350 PRAYER, Importance of Continuing in 

Much praying in secret opens the way for short prayers 
in public. It does not take him long to get to God who is 
accustomed to go to God. A pump that is in constant use 
does not need to be primed. A few strokes bring water. 
If a preacher goes into the pulpit backslidden, he had better, 
before he attempts to preach, pray till he is reclaimed. But 
he should have done this in the closet. If we talked with 
God more we should need to talk with men less, to per¬ 
suade them to right action. 

Bramwell wrote: “Pray ! Pray ! and continue in it; plead 
in it, weep in it, groan in it.” Christ says that “men ought 
always to pray, and not to faint.” Pour out your com¬ 
plaints freely to God, and you will have fewer complaints 


196 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


to make to your fellow men. More knee work will leave 
you less head work. The more prayer, the less perplexity 
there will be. When seas open and afford a passage, a 
bridge is not needed. Prayer not only supplies wants, but 
it lessens wants. He who has God has all. 

351 PRAYER and Prudence 

No amount of praying, and no assurance, however clear, 
that our prayer is answered, can supersede the necessity of 
our doing our part to bring about the desired result. If 
a farmer wants a crop of corn, praying will not take the 
place of plowing. Paul, when in the hands of his enemies, 
had a visit from the Lord, who said to him, “Be of good 
cheer, Paul, for as thou hast testified of me in Jerusalem, 
so must thou bear witness also at Rome” (Acts 23:11). 
But when he learned that the Jews had formed a con¬ 
spiracy to kill him, he took the same prudent means for 
the preservation of his life that a wise, courageous man 
naturally would, who had no assurance of divine pro¬ 
tection. 

352 PRAYER-MEETING, Primitive 

Intense prayer was made for Peter by the church. There 
was a large prayer-meeting held for him at the home of 
the mother of John Mark. It was kept up till late in the 
night. They appear to have prayed with more fervor than 
faith. For when a young girl of their company, who had 
heard a knocking at the gate, and gone out to see what it 
meant, came in and told them that their prayers were an¬ 
swered and Peter stood at the gate, they could not believe 
her. They said she was crazy. When she insisted upon 
it that she was right, and that she had seen and heard the 
apostle, and left him standing at the gate, they said, “It 
is his angel.” 

How faithfully we imitate the primitive church in our 
doubts , if we do not in our fervency! We pray, and when, 
in an unexpected manner, we receive the thing for which 
we pray, we think it must be something else. In all sin¬ 
cerity we ask the Lord to sanctify us wholly. A great 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


197 


blessing falls upon us, but we conclude it is only an appear¬ 
ance, and not a reality! And so the blessing is lost. 

Again, we pray for bodily health, or for help in business, 
and we receive that for which we prayed. We can not 
doubt the reality, and so we begin to doubt that it came in 
answer to prayer. We are unworthy of having our prayers 
answered, and so we conclude that the event would have 
been the same if we had not prayed. Thus God is dis¬ 
honored, faith paralyzed, spirituality dwarfed, and worldli¬ 
ness encouraged. 

Beloveds, when you receive the things for which you 
pray, believe that they come in answer to prayer, and give 
glory to God. Have faith in God. 

353 PREACH Gospel Truth 

Some professed preachers of the gospel have evidently 
mistaken their calling. They manifest the instinct of de¬ 
tectives rather than that of men of God. Their scent for 
wrong-doing is supernaturally strong. They will associate 
familiarly with others, that they may, like the disguised de¬ 
tective, make out a case against them. Some prowl around 
back yards, and scan clothes-lines with a critical eye, to 
see if they can not find something that will convict the 
family of pride. They take delight in showing that those 
who, to others, give good evidence of leading a self-denying, 
Christian life, are, notwithstanding, in the way of death. 
When they preach, it is to accuse; when they write, it is to 
condemn. If any object to their methods, they say it is 
because they will not stand the truth. Beloveds, remember 
that there are many truths which are not gospel truths. 
Much that is, in police courts, proved to be true, is not fit 
for the pulpit. Give the people the clean, clear-cut truths 
of the gospel, and generally they will receive them. You 
can not state them too strongly for those who are honest. 
But hungry souls, longing to be fed, very properly object to 
being served to a dish of scandal. Those who are thirsting 
for the water of life turn in disgust from the mixture taken 
from the sewer, even though it is offered to them by a 
minister of the gospel. Be on the lookout for the good; 


198 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


the bad will manifest itself as soon and as fast, and you 
will be able to correct it. 

354 PREACH the Gospel Constantly 

God has called Free Methodist preachers to preach the 
gospel. Let us be true to our call. Let no zeal for re¬ 
forms, however needed, lead us to neglect in the least that 
work of the Spirit in the human heart which lies at the 
bottom of all reforms. 

If you fail to get a congregation in the church, go, as 
soon as warm weather comes, to some suitable place out of 
doors. But wherever you go, be sure to carry “good tidings 
of great joy to all people.” 

355 PREACHING, Definite 

When you preach, have something to say. Do not keep 
your hearers wandering around in a wilderness of words, 
without bringing them out into the light. Get at some¬ 
thing. If you have nothing to say, stop. Do not rattle 
away, trying to pump water from a dry well. Better melt 
snow, if there is any at hand. If you are backslidden, 
either in heart or life, confess it, and get back to God. 
Let your dry, stereotyped prayer go, and break down be¬ 
fore God and cry to him in earnest, and you will get a 
new start. So will your meetings. Others will catch your 
earnest spirit, and you will soon see manifestations of 
saving power. A live preacher will attract attention any¬ 
where, especially among those who are spiritually dead. 
But a people must be very full of life among whom a dead 
preacher can not have a dead meeting. 

356 PREACHING, Definite Purpose in 

A preacher should appeal to conscience, but he should 
never strive to take the place of conscience. He should 
not attempt to go into all the details of private life. His 
sermons should not be made up of “glittering generalities” 
on the one hand, nor should they, on the other, go into 
every minute particular. The apostles did not. They 
laid down general principles, ministered the Spirit, and 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


199 


left their hearers to apply the truths they heard to their 
daily lives. 

While some preachers may err in going too minutely 
into particulars, the more common error is to be too indefi¬ 
nite. The statements of truth which they make are vague 
and unsupported; the conscience is not awakened; and what 
instruction is given makes but little impression. This arises 
largely from the want of a definite purpose to be accom¬ 
plished by the sermon. What do I wish to persuade the 
hearers to do? is a question the preacher should ask him¬ 
self. He should then adopt means which have a tendency 
to produce the desired results. Random shots are quite as 
liable to do harm as good. A great din and rattle does not 
necessarily win the battle. There must be good ammunition 
and correctness of aim, if the labor would not be lost. 

357 PREACHING: Fresh Truth Required 

No matter how good old hay may be, sheep will leave 
it for green pasture, however poor. The hay may be more 
nutritious, but they will turn from it to nibble the green 
grass. 

Christ’s sheep act very much in the same way. They 
will go away from an able, dry sermon, to hear young boys 
and girls, who have recently tasted the joys of salvation, 
tell what the Lord has done for their souls. Such 
preferences may seem like perverseness, but there is no 
help for them. We preachers will have to submit. Our 
only way to keep the attention of the people is to have 
something good and fresh for them. We must ourselves 
go on into green pastures, and they will readily follow us 
there. A preacher who steadily grows in spirituality will 
not grow wearisome. . A dry soul can but be dry in ex¬ 
pression. He who can hardly endure himself, because of his 
spiritual deadness, ought not to wonder that the saints 
do not care to hear him preach. Feed my sheep. 

358 PREACHING HYPOCRITE 

One of the best sermons we ever heard was preached by 
a man who was hopelessly backslidden from God. He had 


200 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


prepared the sermon when he enjoyed religion, and had 
preached it until it was familiar. He had enough con¬ 
viction to give him feeling, and the congregation appeared, 
for the time being, to be carried away by him. He after¬ 
wards went to State’s prison for crimes he was then com¬ 
mitting. 

Fletcher says of the preaching hypocrite: “He may have 
some feelings, but they are over with his sermon or prayer; 
some warmth for the church, as Jehu, because it is his 
party. But the Christian minister hath more zeal in his 
bosom than on his tongue. Elijah-like, the ‘word of the 
Lord is as a fire in his bones.’ His soul ‘mourns in secret 
places’ for the sins he reproves openly. He can put pro- 
batum est (it is proved) to what he preaches; and his zeal 
hath a very large measure of gospel love; it saves others 
while it consumes himself.” 

359 PREACHING Must be in the Holy Ghost 

Men may learn to preach the truth. The study of the¬ 
ology will enable them to do that. But there is one thing 
that no school can teach. And this is the essential to 
success in all preaching. This is to preach in the Holy 
Ghost. A preacher may get warmed up with his subject; 
he may have strong social qualities, and be able to touch 
the sympathies of others. This may draw his hearers to 
himself; but it will not draw them to the cross. It may 
make them his partizans; but it will not make them saints. 
To get souls saved you must have the baptism of the 
Holy Ghost. This will set your words on fire. Those who 
hear you will be pricked to the heart. One and another 
will cry out, “What must I do to be saved?” 

360 PREACHERS: Evidences of Their Call 

To be an agent in the hands of God of saving souls from 
the power of sin, and of lifting them up to a life divine, 
is the noblest work in which a human being can engage. 
God calls men personally to this service. “And no man 
taketh this honor unto himself, but he that is called of 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


201 


God, as was Aaron” (Heb. 5:4). But how may a man 
know that he is called of God to the work of the ministry? 

1. He will, in his soul, hear the Spirit’s call. There will 
be an abiding impression on his heart that this is to be 
his work. 

2. The spiritual ones among God’s people will feel that 
he has a work to do for God, and will encourage him 
in it. 

3. However unlettered he may be, God will bestow 
upon him such gracious gifts that his language, though it 
may lack accuracy and polish, will have weight and power. 
“Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and 
perceived that they were unlearned and ignorant men, they 
marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had 
been with Jesus” (Acts 4:13). Every uneducated man 
called of God to preach, makes a similar impression. 

In a large town, a county-seat, a gentleman said to us, 
“More of the professional men, lawyers and doctors, go out 
to hear your preacher than go to hear all the other preach¬ 
ers in town.” 

“Why is it? He is an uneducated man, lately from the 
farm.” 

“I have been out to hear him, time after time, on pur¬ 
pose to be able to answer that question. I have come to the 
conclusion that it is because he preaches from inspiration.” 

4. Saints will be edified and sinners converted under his 
preaching. He may stir up fierce opposition, but he will 
do good; he will build up, and not tear down. 

It is no evidence that a man is called of God to preach, 
because he can stir up a bad spirit in bad men and formal 
professors. Sinners can do that. If Christ is with a man, he 
can not only stir devils, but he can cast them out . 

“He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth 
forth much fruit” (John 15:5). 

361 PREACHERS: C-'tis and Graces 

If a man does not possess the natural and gracious gifts 
which, properly cultivated and used, will make him a suc¬ 
cessful minister, then it is evident that God does not call 


202 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


him to the work of the ministry. Dr. Adam Clarke says: 
“When under the influence of the grace of Christ, every¬ 
thing is turned to a man’s advantage. The man whom he 
calls to his work he will take care to endue with every 
necessary qualification. And is it too much to say that 
God never did call a man to preach the gospel whom he did 
not qualify in such a manner that both the workman and 
the work should appear to be of God?” But the man called 
of God to preach is not always and in himself a sufficient 
judge. Many think they are called of God, when they give 
no satisfactory evidence of it to others, especially to the 
spiritual. Others are hardly willing to admit that the call 
of God is upon them, when the saints generally feel that 
God speaks through them, and has called them to his work. 
This was the case with John Knox, Whitefield, Dr. Red- 
field, and many others. 

362 PREACHERS Called of God Are Often Slow and Diffident 

Some very able and courageous ministers have been very 
slow to enter upon the work of the ministry. It was all 
the church could do to get them at it. 

John Knox resisted the most earnest solicitations to 
preach. At last the minister and the church gave him a 
public call. The minister, after preaching a powerful ser¬ 
mon showing the authority of a church to license ministers, 
turned to Knox and said: “Brother, in the name of God, 
and of his Son Jesus Christ, and in the name of all that 
presently call you by my mouth, I charge you that you re¬ 
fuse not this holy vocation, but as you tender the glory 
of God, the increase of Christ’s kingdom, the edification of 
your brethren, that you take upon you the public office 
and charge of preaching, even as you look to avoid God’s 
heavy displeasure, and desire that he shall multiply his 
graces unto you.” Then, addressing the congregation, he 
said: “Was not this your charge unto me? and do ye not 
approve this vocation?” They all answered: “It was, and 
we approve it.” 

Knox was unable to speak, but, bursting into tears, he 
retired from the congregation. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


203 


363 PREACHERS: Neglect of Calling Perilous 

A man that God calls to preach should preach. He 
may do other things, hut he should not allow anything to 
interfere with his preaching. If he does, he is likely to 
get at cross-purposes with God’s providences. He may chase 
after the world, but his chariot wheels will drive heavily. 
He may count on one of two things: he will either lose his 
soul, or he will lose the property which he acquired by 
neglecting his God-given work—perhaps both. A man can 
not habitually neglect the work which Christ calls him to 
do without falling into condemnation. But there is no 
condemnation to one who is in Christ Jesus. He may be in 
the church, but if he is not in Christ he is a candidate for 
perdition. No forms of religion, no reputation among men, 
no amount of property, can save one who is living in wilful 
disobedience to the commands of Christ. A buried talent 
is a misused talent. He that gathereth not with Christ 
scattereth abroad. It is folly for such an useless one to 
dream of Heaven. Christ pronounces his doom: “Cast ye 
the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall 
be weeping and gnashing of teeth.” 

364 PREACHERS, Recommending 

Our quarterly conferences should exercise great care 
in recommending preachers to join the traveling connection. 
Their recommendation is not a matter of form. It carries 
great weight with it. It should be well-nigh conclusive. 
For the quarterly conference is supposed to know intimately 
every person whom it recommends. Then they are acting 
for themselves, as well as for others. The person recom¬ 
mended is liable to be sent back to the circuit as its 
preacher. 

Generally it is a trial to one who is recommended to an 
annual conference not to be admitted. In such a case he 
often feels that justice has not been done him. Those who 
know him well, among whom perhaps' he has lived for years, 
have voted for him; and now, when strangers reject him, 
he is apt to conclude that he has not been fairly repre¬ 
sented or dealt by. Sometimes those who are recommended 


204 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


make preparations to join conference which involve pe¬ 
cuniary sacrifices. Then, if they are not received, they feel 
that they have been wronged. If they do not backslide 
over it, their religious enjoyment is disturbed and their ca¬ 
pacity for usefulness lessened. 

Therefore, while quarterly confergnces should encourage 
all suitable persons, they should be very careful and not 
recommend any but those who are, in all respects , suitable 
to enter the traveling connection. 

In particular, they should see to it that every person 
recommended is: 

1. Possessed of the necessary spiritual qualifications. 
He is to do spiritual work. He should therefore be a 
spiritual man. First of all, he must be a man of approved 
piety. Unless he knows from, experience the way of sal¬ 
vation, he can not lead others in that way. No man of 
doubtful piety should ever be put forward in the church of 
Jesus Christ. Preachers of the gospel should be converted 
and sanctified before they begin to preach. No matter 
what other qualifications one may possess, if he does not 
live the religion which he professes, he should not be recom¬ 
mended by a quarterly conference. 

2. He should possess the necessary gifts for the work. 
He should have correct ideas of the simpler truths of the 
gospel. A man can not teach what he does not know. He 
should have the gift of utterance. He is to declare to the 
people the words of eternal life. He should therefore be 
able to express himself clearly and forcibly. Proper use 
may strengthen faculties, but it can not create them. 

3. That he be successful in the work. Neither the New 
Testament, nor our Discipline, contemplates the thrusting 
out into the responsible work of a minister, raw and in¬ 
experienced men. Our Savior called men from their fish¬ 
nets to carry his gospel to the world; but he gave them a 
practical training of three years’ duration before they en¬ 
tered fully upon their work. Even after this he told them, 
before they finally went out upon their mission, “But tarry 
in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from 
on high.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


205 


St. Paul, speaking of those about to enter upon the 
higher duties of the ministry, wrote, “And let such also 
first be proved.” 

Our Discipline, in giving directions for the “Examina¬ 
tion of those who think they are moved by the Holy Ghost 
to preach,” asks, “Have they fruit? Are any truly con¬ 
vinced of sin and converted to God by their preaching?” 

Then do not recommend any to be received by an an¬ 
nual conference until they have demonstrated, by their 
zeal for the salvation of souls, and by their success in 
winning them to Christ, that God has called them to go 
before men as his ambassadors. The utmost pains should 
be taken by our people to secure for themselves a capable 
and efficient ministry. And the proper place to guard this 
point is at the gate by which men are admitted to the 
ministry, and not at that through which they are sent to 
their respective circuits. Of the former the people are 
the proper custodians; they should leave the latter to those 
to whose fidelity it is entrusted. Men had better labor as 
local preachers, or under a chairman, until they have satis¬ 
fied themselves and the church that God calls them to devote 
themselves exclusively to the work of the ministry. 

Some minor things should also have an influence in de¬ 
ciding whether one should be recommended for the travel¬ 
ing connection. 

Has he suitable health? The calling is a laborious one. 
It makes large draughts upon one’s physical and nervous 
energies. Has he a family? If so, will they be a help to 
him, or will their influence go far towards neutralizing his 
labors? The Primitive Methodists of England admit none 
but single men to their conference; and they are required 
to travel four years before they marry. 

Is he in debt? Our preachers are given at best but a 
moderate support, and none should be recommended who 
have debts hanging over them, which they are unable to 
pay. The preacher who asks admission to a conference 
should also have a horse and saddle, or buggy, and a mod¬ 
erate supply of books. 

If more of our men would enter the ministry better 


206 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


prepared, they would stay in it longer. It is a great hin¬ 
drance to the work of God for men to drop out of the min¬ 
istry just when they are prepared to become most ef¬ 
fective. 

We hope every member of our quarterly conferences 
will carefully consider these things, and act intelligently 
and conscientiously in the matter of recommending 
preachers. 

365 PREACHERS, Recommending—Continued 

Again we call the attention of our quarterly conferences 
to this subject. The question of granting licenses to preach, 
and of recommending preachers to the traveling connection, 
is one of the most important questions that comes before 
a quarterly conference. It is an act that should be done 
with great care, and candor, and conscientiousness. Preju¬ 
dice and partizan feeling'and personal sympathy should 
be carefully guarded against, and not be allowed to 
have any influence in deciding who shall be licensed 
to preach, and who shall be recommended to go into 
the regular work of the ministry. The fear of God, and 
an ardent love for his cause should control the judgment in 
these matters. The cause of God may suffer serious loss 
by keeping those out of the ministry whom he has called to 
this work. It may suffer greatly by introducing improper 
persons into the ministry, or by pushing forward prema¬ 
turely those who are really called to preach. As a rule, it 
is better for the man and better for the work, that he 
enter upon it later and continue in it longer, than that he 
go at it early and quit it early. We need all the sense 
we can command, and all the heavenly wisdom we can ob¬ 
tain, to be able to put forward the right men at the right 
time. 

In addition to what we have already said, we wish to add 
the following: See that every one you recommend is not 
only truly converted, and really called of God to preach, 
but that he is a Free Methodist in principle and in practises. 
Many a person is called of God to preach who is not called 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


207 


to preach among us. A duck may be as useful a fowl as a 
hen, but it requires a different yard. A preacher, to de¬ 
velop fully and do all the good of which he is capable, 
must be connected with the people to whom he properly 
belongs. 

Before we take the first step towards introducing one into 
our ministry, we should be satisfied that he is, in his inward 
convictions, a Free Methodist. If one can be just as much 
at home in another denomination as with us, then he had 
better go there on the start, for he probably will after we 
have had the trial and our trouble of training him. There 
are so many difficulties in the work of the faithful minister 
of the gospel, that one who is not fully satisfied that he is 
in his proper place will be quite likely to want to change his 
relations whenever there is a favorable opportunity. Our 
people, as a rule, have deep religious convictions. They are 
aiming, not so much to build up a denomination, as to 
spread abroad a knowledge of the truth as it is in Jesus. 
A preacher who does not share these convictions with them, 
is likely to prove unacceptable everywhere he is sent, and 
that without any apparent reason. He may keep his doubts 
to himself, but he is not likely to succeed among us, what¬ 
ever may be his ability, unless his intellect, his affections, 
his conscience and his will are in the work. After weaken¬ 
ing, if not destroying, several societies, he will probably 
seek more congenial relations. We should then see that one 
has intelligent and clear convictions of gospel truth, as we 
hold it, before we send him out to preach among us. 

If there is any reasonable doubt in the case of any one, 
it is generally better to let him travel under the chairman 
until these doubts are removed. If he feels that he should, 
he can then drop out with less injury to the work and less 
discredit to himself, than he could from the traveling con¬ 
nection. 

Therefore, let no one be recommended by our quarterly 
conferences unless there is a strong and reasonable proba¬ 
bility that he will make an acceptable and useful preacher 
among us. 


208 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


366 PREACHERS, Licensing 

Not every one who can talk and pray fluently is called 
to preach. All who feel called to preach are not called 
to preach among us. God has given us as a people our spe¬ 
cial work to do, and we should stick to it. To do this, it 
is of the utmost importance that all our preachers, evan¬ 
gelists, and public teachers be of one heart and one mind 
in the things of God. When a person comes up for license, 
the chairman should institute a careful examination as to 
doctrines. No matter what may be the gifts of any one, 
he should not be licensed to preach, or hold meetings among 
us, unless he is sound in the faith. If he is not in full 
accord with us, he should go somewhere else. Our people 
are properly very particular as to what they hear. They 
can stand a good deal of false syntax, but they can not stand 
false doctrines. They are exceedingly exacting in this re¬ 
spect. However crooked the sentences may be, they want 
the doctrines straight. Let all who have to do with grant¬ 
ing licenses be careful not to license any one who will bring 
any other gospel than that which you have had from the 
beginning. It may afflict to refuse; but to grant the license 
will only make trouble. It will afflict more to take it away, 
as you will be obliged to, than it would to refuse at the 
start. Be kind, but firm. 

367 PREACHERS Should be Consecrated to Work 

Some seem to think they can not be entirely conse¬ 
crated to God unless they can spend all their time in at¬ 
tending meetings. This is a great mistake. God may call 
some to spend more of their time in holding meetings; but 
comparatively few are thus called. Even Paul, incessant 
as he was in his labors in the gospel, yet found time to 
work at his trade, to support himself and those that were 
with him. Because God calls a man to preach, that is no 
reason why he should never work with his hands. As a 
rule, it will help him to preach, to work with his hands 
several hours a day. It will give him greater bodily and 
mental vigor. On one of the most important, able and 
liberal appointments we ever had, we got another horse and 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


209 


put with ours, and drew up our wood for the year. We 
sawed and split it in the winter. In the summer we made, 
with our own hands, a good garden which contributed ma¬ 
terially to our support. Yet we held, we presume, on an 
average a meeting a day, throughout the year. We had 
appointments week-day evenings at the schoolhouses round 
about. God gave us powerful revivals. We did not break 
down under it, but grew in grace, and in bodily strength. 
Spirituality and industry go well together. Only keep your 
mind stayed on God, your eye single, your affections set 
on things above, and working with your hands will not 
hurt your enjoyment. You can get blessed holding the 
plow or swinging the ax, if you will. 

368 PREACHER’S Heart Must be in Work 

If you are laboring for souls, you must put your heart 
into the work, or it will amount to but little. Many a 
preacher does his duty in a general way; you can not 
find out anything that he leaves undone, but it all appears 
to amount to but little. The most that can be said is, 
that the church does not run down; but it makes no 
sensible progress in bringing the world to Christ. There 
are few conversions, and they are of a very weak char¬ 
acter. The trouble is,, the preacher’s heart is not in the 
work. All under his influence soon come to partake of his 
indifference. There may be pride in keeping up the show 
of external prosperity in the church, but spirituality dies 
out. Preacher and people drift away quietly to perdition. 
Everywhere there is need of heart work. Put your heart 
in your sermons, in your prayers, in your exhortations, in 
your singing, and above all in your pastoral visiting , and 
you will soon see a marked change in the religious condition 
of the society. Even under the Mosaic dispensation, with 
all its forms, it was heart service upon which God laid the 
stress. “I command you this day, to love the Lord your 
God, and to serve him with all your heart and with all 
your soul.” It is greatly to be feared that the warning 
words of Christ will apply to many in our day. “This people 
draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoreth 


210 PUNGENT TRUTHS 

me with their lips; but their heart is far from me” (Matt. 
15 :S). No matter how gorgeous and imposing may be 
the service of such people, God says, “In vain do they 
worship me.” 

369 PREACHERS Should Have Deep Convictions 

See to it that every one who is admitted to an annual 
conference is a Free Methodist, in his deep, abiding con¬ 
victions. We are called to “earnestly contend for the 
faith which was once delivered to the saints,” and if one 
is just as well satisfied with the faith of popular 
churches, he can not possibly do our work. He will do us 
more harm than good. The Free Methodist church is not 
a primary school for apprentices to practise in till they 
learn how to preach, then go to some popular church that 
can pay a higher salary. We want men composed of the 
stuff that martyrs are made of—men so devoted to the 
principles of the New Testament that they are not only 
willing to endure privations and labors for them, but to 
lay down their lives in their support. These are the men 
we want for preachers. Such men are still to be found; 
and God can raise up others. Some of them may be un¬ 
educated, but no matter for that; a man called of God to 
preach, and who follows him fully, will develop with 
astonishing rapidity. Tou will be astonished to see how 
soon, with proper application, he will be able to fill ac¬ 
ceptably any pulpit from which they want the truth 
preached. Let all our preachers be Free Methodist 
preachers. 

370 PREACHERS: Men of One Business 

A preacher, to succeed, must have his heart in his work. 
If he is taken up with farming, or book-selling, or literary 
labors, or with anything else, no matter what may be his 
ability, he will fail as a preacher. What he is doing may 
not be at all inconsistent with the work of a minister of the 
gospel, but if it engrosses his attention, it spoils him for 
soul-saving. Newton, when asked how he made such great 
discoveries, replied: “By always thinking about them.” The 
preacher who puts his mind on the great matters of sal- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


211 


vation can not but make what will be, to him at least, 
new discoveries in the things of God. He will be able to 
do things not provided for in the standard formulas. He 
will grow in knowledge, as well as in grace, and will not 
be either barren or unfruitful. 

371 PREACHERS Are Watchmen 

God pronounces the severest denunciations against un¬ 
faithful ministers. “His watchmen are blind: they are all 
ignorant, they are all dumb dogs, they can not bark; sleep¬ 
ing, lying down, loving to slumber. Yea, they aie greedy 
dogs which can never have enough, and they are shep¬ 
herds that cannot understand: they all look to their own 
way, every one for his gain, from his quarter” (Isa. 56:10, 
11). By “dumb dogs” is meant preachers who do not warn 
their people of dangers that threaten them. They are “blind 
watchmen” and can not see that there is any harm in per¬ 
sons who profess godliness “adorning themselves with gold 
and pearls and costly array,” although God has expressly 
forbidden it. They are “ignorant watchmen” who say, 
“I know nothing about Masonry,” and so fail to show their 
people that there is as great inconsistency in a man’s be¬ 
longing to the church and the lodge at the same time, as 
there would be in his professing to be at once a Christian 
and a Mohammedan. To every one of his ministers God says, 
“Son of man, I have made thee a wdtchman unto the house 
of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth and give 
them warning from me” (Ezek. 3: 17). 

372 PREACHERS Should be Good Generals 

Preachers should be good generals. No general does all 
the fighting. He plans for his men and leads them on to 
successfully execute his plans. So a preacher should not 
attempt to do all the work. Nor should he leave his people 
without the opportunity of doing anything in meetings and 
then scold them because they do not work. In most societies 
there are persons having the ability, if properly developed 
and directed, to hold interesting and profitable meetings. 
Mission ground should be occupied and such persons set 


212 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


to work. The way should be opened for them to take a 
part in the regular meetings. The preacher should be quick 
to see what each of his members can do to help on the cause 
of God, and set them at it and keep them at it. 

373 PREACHERS Must Feel for the Lost 

One who had a wide observation among farmers, and 
some experience in farming, said, “There is no fertilizer 
for a farm like brains, and you need to keep the brains 
on the farm.” The preacher who puts his whole soul into 
his work can hardly fail of success. Nothing flavors a 
sermon like a deep interest for the souls of the hearers. 
Plain speech seldom gives offense, when it springs from 
love, and is uttered in an affectionate manner. Preach¬ 
ers more generally fail from lack of feeling than from lack 
of learning. “He that goeth forth, and weepeth, bearing 
precious seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, 
bringing his sheaves with him.” 

374 PREACHERS of Righteousness 

Noah was a preacher of righteousness. The great need 
of the day is preachers of the same kind. It should be in¬ 
sisted upon in every pulpit in the land, that no correctness 
of creed can compensate for the lack of uprightness in the 
daily life. Nothing can be plainer than the following: 
“Little children, let rib man deceive you: he that doeth 
righteousness is righteous, even as- he is righteous. He 
that committeth sin is of the devil” (1 John 3:8, 9). 

Ponder well these weighty words. They express in plain 
terms the tenor of the whole of the teaching of the New 
Testament. Not a single passage can be found which 
promises Heaven to the religious. It is “ to them who by 
patient continuance in ivell doing seek for glory and honour 
and immortality, [that God shall render ] eternal life ” 
(Rom. 2:7). Your religion, then, must be so thoroughly 
experimental that it is intensely practical. Christ says, 
not church-members, but the righteous, shall go away into 
life eternal. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


213 


375 PREACHERS Must be Faithful to God 

The Prophet says: “Cursed be he that doeth the work of 
the Lord deceitfully” (Jer. 48:10). In the Revised Ver¬ 
sion it is “negligently.” Though this is spoken of executing 
temporal judgments upon those whom God had condemned 
to death, yet it has application to those who are called upon 
to declare the judgments of God. They are to do it faith¬ 
fully. The truth which they proclaim is not theirs, but 
God’s. They have no right 

“To smooth down the stubborn text to ears polite, 

And snugly keep damnation out of sight.” 

Preachers of the gospel are ambassadors for Christ. It is 
treason to Christ for such men to make alliances with his 
enemies. Nor have they the right to dictate terms of 
peace. These Christ has laid down. He never varies from 
them in the slightest to accommodate the mightiest sinner 
that ever sued for pardon. He demands of all an uncon¬ 
ditional surrender. He accepts nothing but entire sub¬ 
mission to his will. 

376 PREACHERS Should be Humble 

Spiritual pride is one of the dangers that beset us in 
every stage of our religious experience. The better and 
greater our experience is, the greater is our danger from 
this source. The Apostle says, “Knowledge puffeth up, but 
charity edifieth” (1 Cor. 8:1). Therefore it is of the great¬ 
est importance that our charity keep pace with our knowl¬ 
edge. Unless it does, we are in danger of becoming proud 
and self-willed. Many preachers lose their power of doing 
good just at the time when they might do most good, 
if they would keep filled with humble love. But they know 
so much, and so insist upon having their own way, that 
God leaves them, and their brethren leave them, and they 
become useless, or worse than useless, at that period in 
their lives when they might, by keeping humble, be most 
useful. “A man’s pride shall bring him low; but honor 
shall uphold the humble in spirit” (Prov. 29:23). 


214 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


377 PREACHERS Must be Active 

Pie who attempts little accomplishes little. A preacher 
who settles down with his family and simply fills his ap¬ 
pointments, and preaches over and over his old sermons, and 
makes only social visits, can but fail in his work. He does 
not win souls. He does not expect to; he does not try to. 
He is like a blind horse on a treadmill. 

But he who settles down to his work, and expects to 
succeed in it, does succeed. He proposes to do something, 
and he wisely adapts his means to the end to be attained. 
His work is not in vain in the Lord. 

John Eliot, one of the first missionaries to the American 
Indians, wrote: “Prayer and pains, through faith in Christ 
Jesus, will accomplish anything.” The faith that does not 
produce prayer and pains is downright presumption. If you 
have faith for a revival, then go to work to promote a re¬ 
vival. In the waters of salvation the fishing season lasts 

♦ 

the year round. 

378 PREACHERS: Reverence in the Pulpit 

Profanity is out of place everywhere, especially in the 
pulpit. Preachers should, of all men, never take the name 
of God in vain. They should not utter it needlessly. It 
should always be spoken with reverence. “But when ye 
pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do.” To fre¬ 
quently and needlessly use the name of Deity is certainly a 
vain repetition. It is dreadful for a preacher to talk 
so as to call forth such a comment as an artless child made 
when she came out of church: “Ma, what made that man 
swear so?” 

We have been shocked by language which we have heard 
from the pulpit. We once told a preacher that his ser¬ 
mon sounded like blasphemy. He defended himself, refused 
to reform, soon lost his influence, and dropped out of sight. 
Language bordering on profanity does not render a sermon 
vigorous. Expressions proper in themselves, such as “Praise 
God,” should not be made in a commonplace, unfeeling man¬ 
ner. Let us see to it that, in preaching and praying, we 
have the Holy Spirit. If we do, we shall have a spirit of 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


215 


reverence. Our words and our manner will not shock the 
most delicate sensibilities. 

379 PREACHERS Labor Under a Disadvantage 

Our preachers labor under one great disadvantage. 
There is no denying it; and worse still, there does not 
appear to be any way of avoiding it. Everywhere they 
are, to use a common phrase, undersold. Salvation is of¬ 
fered on easier terms than they dare propose. People get 
convicted under their preaching and then are attracted to 
a popular church, by some professional singer sent for as 
a decoy, and these are offered salvation on about their own 
terms. The Freemason need not give up the lodge, the 
proud need not give up their jewelry, confession of wrongs 
to others and restitution is not insisted on; all they must 
do is “only to believe,” and they are pronounced converted. 
The revival meeting is adjourned over for the church fes¬ 
tival, and there is a blending of fun and faith that brings 
about great results. A large number of converts are re¬ 
ported; the account of a great revival is sent abroad. Yet 
of the converts it would be hard to find one who has for¬ 
saken all in order to become a disciple of Christ. 

380 PREACHERS Do Not Always Have Equal Liberty 

A man who preaches from inspiration will not have the 
same help at all times. Much depends on watching and 
prayer, but still the “wind bloweth where it listeth,” and 
the peculiar influence of the Spirit that we may desire is 
not always at our command. The most careful and prayer¬ 
ful may have a barren season. But they should not con¬ 
demn themselves on that account. 

Bishop Hamline was a man of God, who enjoyed and 
preached holiness. He wrote as follows of a sermon he 
preached at Trumansburgh, New York, August 12, 1847: 

“Preached this morning to a full house, of all mixtures, 
on ‘perfect love.’ Good attention, but no signs of feeling. 
The people of these parts think; but if they feel, they do it 
inwardly and ‘as it were in secret.’ It is a time of declen¬ 
sion, however.” 


216 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


381 PREACHERS, Self Indulgent 

A preacher should be a man of clean hands and pure 
heart. His body should be clean, his conversation should 
be pure. Without moral purity a preacher will be lost just 
as truly as if he were engaged in another business. His 
popularity as a minister, his success as a revivalist, can 
not save him. As good peaches as I ever ate, I picked 
from a tree that had been broken down for weeks. One 
side of the trunk held together, and allowed enough sap 
to circulate to mature the crop under the burden of which 
the tree broke down. But it never bore again. So, a preach¬ 
er, after he has fallen into sin, may go on under the mo¬ 
mentum he gathered when he was right with God and see 

souls converted. But he must not take this as an indorse¬ 
ment of God upon his soul. It is simply a divine indorse¬ 
ment of the truth, and not of the one who utters it. One 

going away from church may direct others to it. Paul was 
a self-denying, devoted preacher. Yet, after years of he¬ 
roic devotion to his work, he writes, “But I keep under my 
body, and bring it into subjection: lest that by any means, 
when I have preached to others, I myself should be a cast¬ 
away” (1 Cor. 9:27). He does not say, “lest I should 
cripple my influence,” or, “lest others should stumble over 
me,” but “lest I myself should be a castaway.” Paul evi¬ 
dently believed that a truly converted, sanctified, laborious, 
and successful minister might, at last, be lost through self- 
indulgence. Reader, how is it with you? Are you pure in 
heart, and in life? Are you cleansed from secret sins? 

382 PREACHERS Should Not Forsake Calling 

A preacher may have mistaken his calling. If he has, 
the quicker he leaves the pulpit the better for himself and 
for the cause of God. But if he is truly called of God to 
preach, and God has set his seal to his ministry, he runs 
a fearful risk when he quits preaching for some more lucra¬ 
tive employment. He is quite likely to make shipwreck, 
both for this world and for the world to come. It will be 
well if he does not drag his family with him down to ruin. 
Preachers who get into debt through neglect of their duties, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


217 


and through a spirit of indolence and self-indulgence, and 
quit preaching for a time to get out of debt, generally be¬ 
come involved more deeply. The only path of safety is 
the path of duty. “Let your conversation be without cov¬ 
etousness ; and be content with such things as ye have: for 
he hath said, I will never leave thee nor forsake thee. So 
that we may boldly say, The Lord is my helper; and I will 
not fear what man shall do unto me.” 

383 PREACHERS, Faithful, Rewarded 

The greatest rewards in the life to come are promised 
to faithful ministers. “They that turn many to righteousness 
shall shine as the stars for ever and ever” (Dan. 12:3). 
There is to be a great difference in their favor over ordinary 
saints who get through to glory. And this difference is to 
last to all eternity. But mark ! It is not merely the preacher 
that is to be thus rewarded. It is not merely the active or 
the successful preacher, as success is commonly estimated. 
In fact, it may be other than a preacher. It is the one, 
be he preacher or layman, who turns many to righteousness. 
This is the essential thing. Thorough work is demanded. 
No notice whatever will be taken of the multitudes who rise 
up for prayers, and who join the church without any marked 
change in their character or conduct. They must be turned 
to the love and practise of the right—to temperance, chastity, 
honesty and veracity, industry and humility. They must be 
so made over that they will always be found on the side of 
the right. They must have all the active virtues included 
in that comprehensive word righteousness. Precious few of 
the many who are called converts does God count. But re¬ 
wards will be distributed according to his reckoning. 


384 PREACHERS Should Go Early to Their Circuits 

If a preacher has a visit to make before entering upon 
his duties on a new circuit, he had better make it before 
than after conference. Sometimes a preacher’s usefulness 
for a whole year is lessened by his failure to get to his cir¬ 
cuit in season. The people come out to hear him, and are 


218 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


disappointed, until their interest in him dies away. Others 
enter upon fields of labor that he might have occupied. He 
meets a discouraged people, when he might have met people 
full of courage, if he had met them in season. He is too 
late with his protracted meetings, too late in getting around 
among his members, and alas, they are too late in their 
support. He began behind, and never catches up. He goes 
to conference a discouraged preacher, and the people very 
naturall® want a change. If you had a gold mine to work, 
you would feel that you could not get at it too soon. If 
you had wheat to sow, you would want to get it in the 
ground in season. If your soul is on fire for the salvation 
of the souls committed to your care, you will want to 
commence your ministry among them as soon as possible. 

385 PREACHER’S Reception to New Circuit 

Preachers are human beings; they, and their families, 
have the feelings and the wants of human beings. If, 
when they come to your circuits, you give them ’a cordial 
reception, it will go a good ways toward making them 
think that they are in the right place, and it will help 
give them the courage and the faith they need to make them 
useful. So, when the new preacher comes, take pains to 
look after his wants. Do not leave it for somebody else. 
Invite him to your house and make him feel at home. See 
to getting his things moved; and make no charge for 
drawing his goods to, or from, the depot. Furnish the 
parsonage with something for the family to begin living 
with, and do not let them feel at the outset that they have 
come upon a “starvation circuit.” If the weather is un¬ 
pleasant or pleasant, get out to hear him preach; look up 
to get blessed, and if you hear anything that touches you, 
bring out a good, hearty Amen. It will help the preacher 
amazingly. In short, give your preacher a cordial Chris¬ 
tian reception. It will bring out the good that is in him. 

386 PREACHERS’ Wants to be Known 

Appearances can not always be depended upon. We were 
told in Minnesota of a well-to-do brother who felt impressed 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


210 


to see how the preacher was getting along for provisions. So 
he decided to take dinner with him. The preacher’s family 
had nothing whatever to eat. But just before dinner time 
a neighbor sent in a loaf of bread. Some one else sent them 
a piece of fresh meat; another a little butter. ,The children 
found a nest full of eggs. So the preacher’s wife prepared an 
excellent dinner, and set on the table all there was in the 
house to eat. The brother enjoyed the dinner and went 
away and reported the wants of the preacher were abun¬ 
dantly supplied; that they lived better than he did. 

Hasty conclusions are often wrong conclusions. Patient 
investigation would often show that things are entirely dif¬ 
ferent from what they appear to be on the surface. Job, 
in repelling the false accusations of his friends, gave as one 
manifestation of his integrity, “The cause which I knew not 
I searched out.” More of Job’s uprightness would make us 
less hasty in our decisions. 

387 PREACHERS, Care of Worn-out 

Where people have true religion they will take care 
of their preachers, not only while they are effective, but 
when they become disabled. No humane man ever turns 
out to starve an old horse that has served him faithfully. 
C. B. Edgar, of Brooklyn, N. Y., says in a late number of the 
Christian Evangelist , the organ of those who call themselves 
“Christians”: “In our church the superannuated pastor may 
literally starve, if he is too proud to beg through the church 
papers for pennies. I never heard of one of our churches 
pensioning its worn-out pastor. Sometimes a poor, old 
preacher moves around among the churches, suffering ex¬ 
posure and discomfort, leaving a kind of tribute by preach¬ 
ing an old sermon, or threatening to do so, which is often 
more effective of his main purpose. Is it surprising that the 
last days of some of our old preachers are full of bitterness? 
When I think of all the heartless, selfish, ungrateful treat¬ 
ment that I have seen and known of churches toward min¬ 
isters I am persuaded that there is to be an awful reckoning 
above. If it is true that corporations have no souls, I am 
sometimes led to believe neither have some churches.” 


220 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Such churches, whatever they may style themselves, are 
not Christian churches. Such people need to be converted. 

Reader, are you doing your duty by your pastor? 

388 PREACHERS, Be Good to Your 

Be good to your preachers. It will help them to be 
good preachers. A man full of courage does not seem to 
be the same man as he is when he is full of discourage¬ 
ment. In contests of physical strength, much stress is laid 
upon the condition of the contestants. So the success of 
a society depends largely upon the condition of the preacher. 
If you are doing your share to keep him in good condition, 
you are doing more than you know to promote the cause of 
God. Help him temporally. See that he and his family 
do not want. Help him spiritually. Pray for him, but do 
not pray at him. Give him a word of encouragement now 
and then. It will help him greatly. 

389 PREACHERS Must be in Sympathy With Us 

Not every one who is called to preach is called to be a 
Free Methodist preacher. God has raised us up to do a 
work that no other denomination is doing. We are a 
peculiar people. If we ever cease to be such, we should 
cease to be. No denomination has a right to existence un¬ 
less it is essentially different from the others. 

No person, whatever his gifts and graces, should be put 
in the way of becoming a member among us, unless he is 
thoroughly and conscientiously in sympathy with us. Rich¬ 
ard Baxter says: “No man is fit to be a minister of Christ 
who is not of a public spirit as to the church; does not de¬ 
light in her beauty, nor long for her felicity. As the good 
of the commonwealth must be the end of the magistrate, so 
must the felicity of the church be the end of her pastors. 
They must rejoice in her welfare, and be willing to spend 
and be spent for her sake.” 

He who comes among us to preach because he thinks it is 
more easy to get into the ministry with us than with some 
older denomination, should receive no encouragement. We 
should not set a man to teach what he does not believe. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


221 


390 PREACHERS To be Esteemed for Work’s Sake 

We should always bear in mind that the Scriptures base 
the claims of preachers to consideration, not upon their 
position, but upon their character and conduct. Bad quali¬ 
ties are only made the more conspicuous by putting them 
into the pulpit. A preacher who lacks industry is no better 
than a lazy clerk or hired man. “And we beseech you, 
brethren, to know them which labor among you, and are over 
you in the Lord and admonish you; and to esteem them 
very highly in love for their work’s sake.” Here is nothing 
about names or titles, or succession; the stress is laid upon 
their conduct. Labor among you. They did not settle down 
and take it easy; they worked, and spent as many hours in 
a day in their sacred calling as wage-workers do in their 
secular calling. They visited—not where they could get 
good cheer—but where their help was needed. They dealt 
faithfully with souls, warning and admonishing those who 
are out of the way. People like to have their preachers in¬ 
dustrious. They even like to have them admonish others ; 
but there are but few who can bear to have the preacher 
admonish them. Hence the Apostle beseeches us to “esteem 
very highly in love for their work’s sake” those who ad¬ 
monish us personally. Brother, will you yield to the Apos¬ 
tle’s entreaty in this particular? 

391 PREACHERS, Faithful, Not Likely to be Popular 

Paul said to his hearers: “For I have not shunned to 
declare unto you all the counsel of God” (Acts 20:27). But 
what trouble did it bring upon him! He began preaching in 
Damascus right away after he was converted. He “con¬ 
founded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus, proving that 
this is very Christ.” When men can not reply to the truth, 
and will not yield to it, they can get mad. “And after 
that many days were fulfilled, the Jews took counsel to 
kill him.” This was but a foretaste of the treatment that 
assailed him everywhere. He was expelled from Antioch; 
he fled from Tconium; he was stoned at Lystra; he was 
beaten with many stripes at Philippi, put into jail, and his 
feet made fast in the stocks; and so on until he finally died 


222 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


the martyr’s death. Yet Paul wag one of the most prudent 
of men. But he never became popular. Any one who makes 
up his mind to deal faithfully with souls, as Paul did, 
must lay aside all thoughts of popularity. He will meet 
opposition and persecution, to the full extent that the law 
will allow. But he will be so upheld by infinite power that 
he can say, “None of these things move me.” It is true that 
“we must through much tribulation enter into the kingdom 
of God.” 

392 PREACHERS, Half-heartedness Destroys Usefulness of 

Half-heartedness in his work will destroy the usefulness 
of any preacher. He may be popular with the world; but he 
will have little power to promote the salvation of souls. 
At a time when he is, in most respects, capable of doing 
most good, he does the least. His lack of spirituality, of 
whole-heartedness in the cause of God, more than overbal¬ 
ances the knowledge which he has gained from books and 
from experience. The church suffers, the circuit suffers, his 
family suffers. A dry-rot within is invisibly eating up his 
strength, and in some emergency his Christian character 
utterly goes to pieces. The catastrophe comes on at once: 
the preparation for it had been going on for some time. 

393 PREACHERS, Like, Like People 

Paul, in writing to the saints, speaks of the work done 
among them by their ministers, and says, whose faith follow. 

The pbople are quite inclined to obey this apostolic 
direction. They look upon their preacher as their leader, 
and they are apt to follow where he leads. If he goes 
to the lodge, some of them will go with him. If he is 
fond of worldly pleasures, he will take them to festivals 
and frolics. If his faith is weak, and he gives way to 
discouragements, they will be discouraged. But if he is 
truly a man of God, full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, 
he will be apt to have a live church, rejoicing in hope. 

When a preacher is complaining of his people, they gen¬ 
erally will be found complaining of him. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


223 


394 PREACHERS in Conflict with Members 

Some preachers appear to have a strong inclination to 
come in conflict with old, reliable, substantial members. 
We had hard work at one time to keep a young and inexpe¬ 
rienced preacher from taking steps to turn out of the 
church the best member there was in it. She was one of 
the most godly women we ever knew, with more than ordi¬ 
nary good sense and prudence. She had been the means 
of forming the society and building the church. Yet the 
preacher took a dislike to her, and seemed determined to 
get her out of the society. 

If a conference finds that it has such men belonging 
to it, the stationing committee should not make them preach¬ 
ers in charge, until they are thoroughly cured. They should 
not be allowed to go on destroying societies. Better hurt 
the feelings of the preacher than allow him seriously to 
hurt the work. 

395 PREACHERS’ Indiscretion 

Christ derives many of his best illustrations from farm¬ 
ing operations. A farm furnishes a good deal of excellent 
training for religious teachers. Moses, brought up in the 
court of Pharaoh, afterwards had his forty years’ training 
on a farm, before he was fitted to become the leader and 
law-giver of God’s people. A month’s work splitting rails 
might do some young preachers more good than a theological 
seminary could do for them in the same time. I am not 
certain that Abraham Lincoln could have carried this na¬ 
tion triumphantly through the great crisis which endangered 
its existence, if he had not learned to split rails when a 
boy. He found out that, though, to split a log, it is neces¬ 
sary to get the big end of the wedge in, yet the best way 
to do it is to put the thin edge in first. This is something 
that it takes some preachers so long to learn. It seems as 
if they would never learn it. They will persist, in spite 
of repeated failures, in trying to get the big end of the 
wedge in first. They make it a matter of conscience to do 
it. They think it is compromising not to attack at once 
whatever they may see wrong in another, although the per- 


224 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


son assailed may see no wrong in it, in comparison with 
others of which lie knows ho is guilty. Instead of drawing 
souls to Christ, they stir up their prejudices and arouse 
their animosities. 

Brethren, do not spoil your mauls by trying to drive in 
the big end of the wedge first. 

396 PREACHERS, Lazy 

“If there is anything especially repulsive to me,” said 
a godly layman, whose life and means are consecrated to 
the cause of Christ, “it is a lazy preacher.” 

We agree with him. A man called of God to snatch 
souls from eternal burnings, taking it easy, lying around, 
feeling no concern, doing as little as he can for the salva¬ 
tion of others! Why, he must be wanting in common hu¬ 
manity. A man whom Christ has called to labor in his 
vineyard, and whom he has promised to reward eternally 
according as his work shall be, hardly working at his calling 
one day in seven, and then going at it in such a lifeless 
manner that he might just as well not work at all! How 
can such a man believe one word that Christ says? If he 
believed Christ, would he not be moved by the fear of 
meeting such a doom as this: “And cast ye the unprofitable 
servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and 
gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 25 : 30) ? 

President Edwards was right when.he said, “Slothfulness 
in the cause of God is as damning as open rebellion.” One 
can as surely go from the pulpit to hell as from a saloon 
to hell. No place or position which one occupies can save 
him. One evidence of salvation is filling our place to the 
glory of God. 

The brother referred to said, “Do not send a lazy 
preacher on our circuit.” So say the people generally. 
A lazy preacher is not acceptable anywhere. No matter 
how correct his life, or how great his ability to preach, 
the people do not want him. There is no place for him 
on earth, there is no place for him in Heaven, and if he 
goes to hell, the devil will go at him first thing, to stir 
him up. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


225 


397 PREACHERS, Declension of Spiritual Life in 

It is always expected that the master of the trade will 
do better work than the apprentice. To this rule perhaps 
the ministry furnishes the most notable exceptions. We in¬ 
quire about preachers who, in the prime of life, are so dry 
and powerless that no circuit wants them, and we are told 
that when boys in the ministry they carried everything be¬ 
fore them. They had revivals wherever they went. Men 
who fight demonstrations used to fall under the power of 
God. What is the matter? They know more than they 
did. They preach more systematic sermons. But this is 
not the cause of their present inefficiency. The trouble is 
they have backslidden in heart from God. They have lost 
their first love. And the worst of it is, they will not consent 
to see it. 

Beloved, have you lost power with God? Then ask your¬ 
self the question, “Is there not a cause?” Search it out and 
remove it. 

398 PREACHERS, Backslidden 

One mark of a backslider is a loss of power. “Ye shall 
receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon 
you.” It is equally true that you will lose this power 
if the Spirit leaves you. A preacher is all given to the 
Lord, and, as a consequence, is filled with the Spirit, and 
is successful in his work. He is spoken well of and cared 
well for. He becomes, by degrees, spiritually proud, con¬ 
ceited and worldly. He goes to another field. The people 
see him in the light of his present experience. The im¬ 
pression they get is, that he is formal, and selfish. He 
thinks they fail to appreciate him—that they are bigoted, 
and prejudiced—and that he can do them no good. It looks 
to him like a waste of time to stay on such an unpromising 
field. It never occurs to him that the real difficulty is with 
himself. In reality he is backslidden from God, and does 
not know it. He preaches plain, but it is in bitterness, and 
not in love. He does not love the people, and they feel it. 
They go to hear him a few times, and then leave him alone. 
The remedy is not to get back on the old field, but to 


226 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


get back the old experience. “Remember therefore from 
whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; 
or else I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy 
candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” 

399 PREACHERS Should Not Talk Too Much 

If preachers would pray longer in their closets, and 
shorter in public; if they would spend more time in study¬ 
ing their Bibles, and less time in talking from them, they 
would meet with more success. Skim-milk takes up more 
room than cream, but it does not make so much butter. 
Long talks fill up the time, but they do not bring about the 
desired results. Never talk to kill time. If you have 
nothing to say, then say nothing. The Spirit is quite as 
likely to work amid profound silence, as in a talk full of 
profound emptiness. So minister the Spirit that those who 
hear will have something to say, either in the way of con¬ 
fession or of testimony. Then give them time to take the 
part they should in the meeting, and if they do their duty 
you will have a good meeting. But many a well-meaning 
preacher talks his meetings to death. 

400 PREACHERS Warned Against Jealousy 

Moses showed that he was called of God by his willing¬ 
ness that God’s work should be carried on through any 
instrumentality, even though others got the credit. When 
complaint was made that Eldad and Med&d prophesied in 
the camp, and he was asked to forbid them, his noble 
reply was, “Would God that all the Lord’s people were 
prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon 
them!” If the Lord uses a local preacher, or exhorter, 
or private member in an unusual degree, the preacher in 
charge should not get jealous over it, but encourage them 
and open the way for them to do all the good possible. 
If he tries to put them down for fear they will eclipse 
him, he will certainly put himself down in the sight of 
God and men. People have a keen discrimination in such 
matters. “He that exalteth himself shall be abased.” Peo¬ 
ple seem to delight in putting down one who evidently aims 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


227 


simply at his own elevation. He who shows jealousy of 
those whom God blesses, grieves the Spirit and kills him¬ 
self. 

401 PREACHERS, Unconverted 

It is a great misfortune for a people to have an uncon¬ 
verted, or backslidden, preacher. Either one can do great 
harm. The more talented, highly educated, refined and 
amiable they are, the more dangerous do they become; the 
greater is their power to deceive. A preacher who was never 
converted may be very popular with the worldly, but he is 
liable not to know the work of the Spirit. To him a 
genuine work of the Spirit appears to be fanaticism. He 
can not understand it. He is troubled over it; so he gives 
it an opprobrious name, and endeavors to put it down. 
He may be zealous for reforms, and eloquent in the ad.vo- 
cacy of good morals, but he is as ignorant of the new birth 
as was the ruler of the Jews who came to Jesus by night. 
Said John B. Stainton, a man of God, to the bishop, of his 
pastor (one of these preachers), “He has not even stumbled 
on an evangelical topic during the year.” 

It is a very common thing in Europe for unconverted men 
to be educated for the ministry, just as they are educated to 
practise law or medicine. The custom is rapidly growing 
on us here. Talent and wit are in greater demand for the 
pulpit than godliness. Congregations will pay much more 
liberally to be entertained than they will to have the way 
to Heaven pointed out to them. 

Such a man as Wesley was, before his conversion, would 
be regarded as a prodigy of piety in our days. He writes: “It 
is now two years and almost four months since I left my 
native country, in order to teach the Georgian Indians the 
nature of Christianity; but what have I learned myself in 
the meantime? Why (what I least of all suspected), that 
I who went to America to convert others, was never my¬ 
self converted to God. (I am not sure of this). ‘I am 
not mad,’ though I thus speak; but ‘I speak the words of 
truth and soberness’; if haply some of those who still dream 
may awake, and see that, as I am, so are they. 


228 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


“Are they read in philosophy? So was I. In ancient, or 
modern tongues? So was I also. Are they versed in the 
science of divinity? I, too, have studied it many years. 
Can they talk fluently upon spiritual things? The very same 
could I do. Are they plenteous in alms? Behold, I gave all 
my goods to feed the poor. Do they give of their labor, 
as well as of their substance? I have labored more abun¬ 
dantly than they all. Are they willing to suffer for their 
brethren? I have thrown up my friends, reputation, ease, 
country; I have put my life in my hand wandering into 
strange lands. I have given my body to be devoured by 
the deep, parched up with heat consumed by toil and weari¬ 
ness, or whatsoever God should please to bring upon me. 
But does all this (be it more or less, it matters not) make 
me acceptable to God? Does all I ever did, or can know, 
say, give, do, or suffer, justify me in his sight? Yea, or the 
constant use of all the means of grace (which nevertheless 
is meet, right, and our bounden duty ) ? Or, that I knew 
nothing of myself; that I am, as touching outward, moral 
righteousness, blameless? Or (to come closer yet) the hav¬ 
ing a rational conviction of all the truths of Christianity? 
Does all this give me a claim to the holy, heavenly, divine 
character of a Christian? By no means. I am a child of 
wrath, an heir of hell. I have no hope but that, if I seek, 
I shall find Christ, and ‘be found in him, not having my 
own righteousness, but that which is through the faith of 
Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith’ 
(Phil. 3:9). 

“If it be said that I have faith (for many such things 
have I heard, from many miserable comforters), I answer, 
so have the devils—a sort of faith; but still they are 
strangers to the covenant of promise. So the apostles had 
even at Cana in Galilee, when Jesus first ‘manifested forth 
his glory’; even then they, in a sort, ‘believed on him’; but 
they had not then ‘the faith that overcometh the world.’ 
The faith I want is (the faith of a son) ‘a sure trust and 
confidence in God, that through the merits of Christ my 
sins are forgiven and I reconciled to the favor of God.’ I 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


229 


want that faith which enables every one that hath it to cry 
out, ‘I live not, but Christ liveth in me; and the life which 
I now live, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved 
me and gave himself for me.’ I want that faith which none 
can have without knowing that he hath it (though many 
imagine they have it, who have it not) ; for whosoever hath it 
is -freed from sin’; the whole ‘body of sin is destroyed’; he 
is freed from fear, ‘having peace with God through Christ, 
and rejoicing in hope of the glory of God.’ And he is freed 
from doubt, ‘having the love of God shed abroad in his 
heart, through the Holy Ghost’ which is given unto him; 
which ‘Spirit itself beareth witness with his spirit that he 
is a child of God.’” 

Reader, are you truly converted to God? You may be 
a preacher, you may talk about “accepting Christ,” and all 
that, without your ever having been born of the Spirit. Are 
you a new creature? Are old things passed away; and all 
things become new? (2 Cor. 5:17). 

402 PREACHERS Will Succeed, if Diligent 

At one of our recent conferences a delegate, a man of 
God, and so a man of his word, said to the preachers: 
“Brethren, you go to your circuits, stay the year out, 
and attend to your work as a minister, as I attend to mine 
as a farmer, and then if you fail to get a living I will make 
up the deficiency.” He is able to make his promise good, 
and no doubt will do it, if there is any necessity for it. But 
will it be necessary? There is not the slightest probability 
of it. The brother is perfectly safe. The conference is in a 
rich farming country. The barns are filled with plenty. 
The people are generous and warm-hearted. They are be¬ 
lievers in Christianity; though many of them are not 
Christians. Let a preacher go among them, filled with 
faith and with the Holy Ghost, and work as many hours 
of the day, and watch as many hours of the night, for their 
spiritual welfare, as the successful farmer does in caring 
for his crops and his stock, and the people will not let him 
starve. Those for whom he feels and manifests an interest, 


230 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


will soon manifest an interest in him. His wants will be 
supplied. In caring for others he will be cared for; in 
watering others he will himself be watered. 

403 PREACHERS, Successful and Unsuccessful 

A preacher sent to a run-down circuit, to which the 
preachers did not wish to go, came up to conference with 
the best report of any of them. There had been during 
the year a large accession of members; and no one had re¬ 
ceived a better support than he. What made the differ¬ 
ence? The preacher. Preachers make a great difference 
in circuits. 

A preacher full of faith and of the Holy Ghost, working 
with diligence and discretion, will be likely to bring up 
any circuit. A preacher full of high notions of himself, 
lazy, indiscreet, self-willed and self-indulgent, will cause 
any circuit to run down on his hands. It can not well be 
otherwise. If such a man will not get thoroughly saved, 
and correct his faults, the best thing he can do is to resign 
his charge, and go to work and take care of himself and 
family. A man called of God to preach, and who labors 
as he directs, can hardly fail of meeting with success. 
Hearts will be opened to receive him and his message. 

404 PREACHERS, Are You Successful? 

If you are a preacher, are you a revival preacher? Are 
any souls saved through your labors? If not, why not? 
What are you preaching for? Did God call you to preach, 
or did you take it upon yourself to preach, as a genteel way 
of making a living? If the latter, you had better vacate 
the pulpit quickly. If Christ puts you in the ministry, he 
promises you success—large success. “Herein is my Father 
glorified, that ye bear much fruit” (John 15:8). But God 
is not glorified in your pounding away on the fruit others 
have gathered, till you destroy what little vitality is in 
them. Strike out on your own responsibility. Break up 
new ground. “Sow in tears,” and you “shall reap in joy” 
(Ps. 126:5). This is God’s declaration; it can not fail. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


231 


Be in earnest in the matter, and you shall have a reward 
that will cause rejoicings in Heaven. 

405 PREACHERS’ Education 

If God calls you to preach, do not neglect the call be¬ 
cause you are not educated. You can, if you will, obtain all 
the education you need to make you an able and successful 
minister of the gospel. If the Lord would have you go to 
school, he can open the way. If the time has passed for 
you to go to school, and he calls upon you to begin to preach 
as you are, he can give you the necessary training in the 
work. We believe in schools; but after all the schools can 
do, a man must learn to preach, very much as he learns to 
swim—by jumping in and going at it. He may make awk¬ 
ward motions at first, but patient study and practise will 
give him skill. 

Dr. Ormiston, one of the most able and learned preachers 
of New York, says, “A thorough acquaintance with the 
Scriptures, an experimental knowledge of the power of the 
gospel, and a ready command of the English language, will 
enable a man to become an able minister and a successful 
preacher of the gospel.” This is the deliberate opinion of 
one who is well acquainted with all the advantages which a 
liberal education can bestow. But all these qualifications 
he speaks of, one who possesses the necessary gifts and 
graces may acquire without going to school. 

406 PREACHERS Must Study 

No matter what may be the talent, and learning, and 
piety of a preacher, he will cease to be useful if he ceases 
to study. Wesley preached incessantly; but he was a hard 
student. Adam Clarke, while preaching more sermons in a 
year than the most active of our preachers, became one of 
the first scholars of his day. 

Dr. Stephen Olin says: “It may be laid down as a first 
principle, that he can not long continue a useful, nor even 
a popular, preacher, who has ceased to be a student. He 
must himself gradually lose all relish for the dry, irksome 


232 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


work of memory and repetition, to which he dooms him¬ 
self. However habit or temperament may enable him to 
preach with apparent warmth and vivacity, his announce¬ 
ments of truth do in fact no longer bear the sanction and 
indorsement of his own deep, living convictions: for neither 
reason, nor conscience, nor faith is much concerned in the 
reproduction. If this sort of work is distasteful to the 
preacher, it soon becomes loathsome to the hearer, with whom 
all such exhibitions pass for mere routine or declamation. A 
clerical brother lately said to me, ‘I know several preachers in 

the-conference who have not studied in ten or twenty 

years.’ Such ministers are only less guilty than those who 
have not prayed in ten or twenty years, for it is quite as 
practicable to be a good preacher of the gospel without 
praying as without studying.” 

407 PREACHERS: Hard Study Necessary 

No matter how successful a preacher may be in his first 
efforts, he will not continue to be a successful preacher un¬ 
less he devotes several hours a day to hard study. The lake 
that sends forth a stream of water, must receive water, 
or it will run dry. Dr. Olin says: “The church has never 
more reason to be ashamed than of ministers who no longer 
try to preach well—who only go to their study to read news¬ 
papers and periodicals, and have nothing fresher and better 
for their pulpit than the dry, cold fragments of oft-tasted 
feasts, or the yet more refuse and unwholesome viands 
which the troublous agitations of the moment are able to 
galvanize into some of the lower forms of life. It is won¬ 
derful that the least spark of piety should not deter men 
from bringing such cheap offerings before God.” There is 
no doubt but that some preachers backslide in heart because 
they neglect to study. They lose their interest in preaching, 
engage in secular pursuits, and soon quit preaching alto¬ 
gether. “Give attendance to reading” (1 Tim. 4:13) is 
the direction which the Apostle gave to a young minister 
who had a very large circuit and whose hands were full 
of work. 



PUNGENT TRUTHS 


233 


408 PREACHERS: The Object of Their Study 

Preachers should study; but it should be that they may 
be more successful in winning souls. If they aim at se¬ 
curing a reputation for learning, the knowledge which they 
thus gain will be likely to do them more hurt than good. 
Nothing that a preacher can acquire from books will com¬ 
pensate for a loss of spirituality. But study should increase 
one’s spiritual power; and it will, if one studies from a 
right motive, and in a right manner; and if he make a right 
use of what he learns. In its natural tendency, “Knowl¬ 
edge pufifeth up, but charity edifieth.” So the more we 
learn, the more we need of the charity which “vaunteth 
not itself, and is not puffed up.” A display of ignorance, if 
attended with genuine humility, is not as offensive as an 
ostentatious display of learning. 

409 PREACHERS, Young, Should Pursue a Course of Study 

Young preachers should do the work of evangelists; but 
they should not be in haste to become evangelists. They 
need what many of them dislike—close application. With¬ 
out this they will run for only a short season. They will 
get tired of hearing themselves say the same things over 
and over, and they will quit preaching and go at something 
else. Young preachers need to pursue a course of study. 
This will teach them order and system and give them 
thoughts. They need to preach statedly to the same con¬ 
gregations. This will render it necessary for them to 
study their sermons, and acquire a variety of topics, and 
varied forms of expressions. They should write sermons, 
not for the purpose of reading them to their congregations, 
but for the purpose of acquiring the power to express them¬ 
selves correctly and to arrange their thoughts system¬ 
atically. A desultory style of preaching may be tolerated 
in the fervor and enthusiasm of youth; but when these 
wear away, the people soon get tired of it. The perpetual 
light which always shone in the tabernacle of old, emblem¬ 
atic of the Holy Ghost, was fed by “pure olive oil beaten 
for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always” (Ex. 27: 20). 


234 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


410 PREACHERS, Young, Should Read 

It was in the apostolic age, when the fire which fell 
from Heaven on the day of the Pentecost was burning in 
its pristine splendor, that Paul wrote to a young preacher, 
“Give attendance to reading” (1 Tim. 4:13). If this was 
necessary then, when the Spirit was so poured out upon 
God’s people that miracles were wrought among them, 
how much more is it necessary now, when almost the small¬ 
est degree of the outpouring of the Spirit is characterized 
as fanaticism and wild-fire? If it was necessary for Tim¬ 
othy, who “from a child had known the holy Scriptures,” 
how much more is it necessary for those who passed their 
childhood in ignorance of the Scriptures, and in increasing 
familiarity with sin? Then, beloveds, “give attendance to 
reading.” Make no apologies. You have not as hard a 
circuit as Timothy had. He was among the people that 
the Apostle referred to when he said, “If after the manner 
of men I have fought with beasts at Ephesus” (1 Cor. 
15: 32). Books were much scarcer and more costly then than 
now. It took a small fortune then to buy a Bible. Few 
had one. You have the Bible to study, and you can readily 
procure other good books to read, if you desire to. A few 
good books, carefully read, understood, and remembered, 
will do you more good than many will, read in a cursory 
manner. A man who likes to fish may not like to dig, but 
he will not neglect to dig the necessary bait. If you love 
souls, you will not be averse to reading those books that 
will help you in winning souls. 

Every preacher is a teacher. But we can not teach 
what we do not know. To lead others in the way of life 
we must ourselves be in the way of life, To instruct others 
we must ourselves receive instruction. “For the priest’s 
lips should keep knowledge, and they should seek the law 
at his mouth: for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts” 
(Mai. 2:7). Then live where you can get communications 
direct from Heaven. Follow the Spirit and he will lead 
you into all truth. But it will often be through study, and 
by searching out the revelations which God has made to 
others. If you would grow, you must love the truth. You 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


235 


must go to hear men preach who have the ability and the 
courage to preach the truth. “And I will give you pastors 
according to mine heart, which shall feed you with knowl¬ 
edge and understanding’’ (Jer. 3:15). 

411 PREACHERS: Study and Labor Not in Conflict 

Whoever is called of God to preach is called of God to 
study. Nor, if he works with God, will his studies inter¬ 
fere with his preaching. Adam Clarke was one of the 
greatest scholars of his day, and his immense fund of 
learning was acquired while in the active work of the 
ministry. He preached incessantly. We doubt if there 
is one among us who preaches as many sermons in a year 
as he did while pursuing those studies, and gaining the 
knowledge which made him famous for his learning among 
the learned men of the world. Nor did his zeal die out 
with advancing years. When he was over seventy years 
old, he wrote to the president of the conference: 

“// no place is open for me here, I shall rather travel in 
the keen blasts, over the mountains, hills and bogs of Derry 
and Antrim, than set myself down as a supernumerary in 
any place in Immanuel's land, even in its tvliole length and 
breadth; at least for the present year." 

412 PREACHERS: Pulpit Preparation 

Preaching without notes does not imply preaching with¬ 
out preparation. A flowing well must be supported by a 
greater fountain than one from which the water is obtained 
by pumping. A preacher who does not write his sermons 
should study more than one who does. He has more time. 
He should thoroughly understand his subject. He should 
feel like Elihu, “I am full of matter, the spirit within me 
constraineth me” (Job 32: IS). Lyman Beecher, the great¬ 
est of the Beechers, said to a class of licentiates, “Young 
gentlemen, don’t stand before a looking-glass and make 
gestures. Pump yourselves brimful of your subject, till 
you can’t hold another drop, then knock out the bung, and 
let nature caper.” 


236 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


413 PREACHERS Should Divide Their Subject 

Paul, in writing to a young minister, tells him to show 
himself “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly 
dividing the icord of truth ." 1 We must not present the truth 
in a mass. A loaf of bread is a unit. It is all good— 
all to be eaten. But it is not presented to those around the 
table whole. It is cut into slices. So a sermon should have 
its divisions, clear and distinct. The people can appropriate 
it to better advantage. If you stick to your text, divide 
it naturally. If you preach on some subject , divide the 
subject. Make clear statements. If you do not know how to 
make a proper division of your text or subject, study the 
eleventh, twelfth and thirteenth chapters of Brother Hogue’s 
book on Homiletics; and practise upon them until you 
learn how. 

Then divide your discourse into sentences. Avoid all 
long parenthetical or explanatory phrases. Use a good many 
short sentences. Let each sentence be simple and distinct. 

Divide your sentences into words. Do not let the words 
run into each other. Divide your words into syllables. 
Speak each letter in a word distinctly. Do not compel the 
hearer to guess at your meaning. Make yourselves under¬ 
stood. 

If God calls you to preach, you can, with proper pains, 
make a preacher. 

414 PREACHERS, Health Rules for 

Preachers ought to preserve good health. One part of 
the commission of those whom Christ sends out reads: 
“Heal the sick” (Matt. 10:8). “And he sent them to 
preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick” (Luke 
9: 2, and 10: 9). To do this they must themselves keep well. 

Wesley asked: “What reason can be assigned why so 
many of our preachers contract nervous disorders? 

“Answer : The chief reason, on Dr. Cadogan’s principles, 
is either indolence or intemperance. (1) Indolence. Sev¬ 
eral of them use too little exercise, far less than when they 
wrought at their trade. And this will naturally pave the 
way for many, especially nervous disorders. (2) Intern- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


237 


perance, though not in the vulgar sense. They take more 
food than they did when they labored more; and let any 
man of reflection judge how long this will consist with 
health. Or they use more sleep than when they labored 
more, and this alone will destroy the firmness of the nerves. 
If then our preachers would avoid nervous disorders let 
them (1) take as little meat, drink and sleep as nature will 
bear; and (2) use full as much exercise daily as they did 
before they were preachers.” 

415 PREACHERS’ WIVES 

When God made man he said, “It is not good that man 
should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.” 
So, when a woman marries, she should make it her business 
to help her husband. This is the work she assumes. It 
is her divinely appointed mission. He needs her help. 
A wife can help her husband rise in the world, or she can 
drag him down. Many men of high standing in civil af¬ 
fairs owe their advancement largely to the judiciously 
exercised influence of their wives. 

Especially does the usefulness of a married preacher de¬ 
pend largely upon the co-operation of his wife. If she is 
selfish, and insists upon his being at home and helping her, 
constantly complaining of her hardships, she will make him 
unpopular everywhere he goes. She should cheerfully con¬ 
sent to his being absent from home as many hours a day, 
fulfilling the work of the ministry, as he would have to be 
if working at a trade. A woman planning to get from the 
people all she can for her husband’s services, and to deprive 
them of as large a portion of his services as she can, will 
neutralize his influence, and in the end probably drive him 
from the ministry. Or she may embarrass him by her 
extravagance, spending the money they get in railroad fare 
or in needless delicacies. 

On the contrary, the wife of a preacher is “a help meet” 
indeed when she assists her husband in his work, encour¬ 
ages him to visit among his people, to keep up appointments 
in the country around, and goes with him when she can, 
and takes an active interest in the salvation of the people. 


238 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Such a woman will bless her husband, and the people will 
bless her. 

416 PRESUMPTUOUS Persons 

“Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are not afraid 
to speak evil of dignities” (2 Pet. 2:10). People of this 
class generally make the highest professions. But those 
who must have their own way at any cost, who will des¬ 
troy a good society rather than not have their own notions 
prevail, are mistaken in thinking that they have such 
strong faith. One who relies on God is not self-asserting, 
over-positive, and quarrelsome. He does his duty in a quiet 
spirit, and in a proper manner, and leaves the result with 
God. But those who force things through against the con¬ 
victions of a majority, many of whom, at least, are of 
deeper piety and better judgment than themselves, are 
what the Apostle here calls “selfwilled” and “presumptuous.” 
Instead of there being a Heaven of purity and peace in 
waiting for such persons, the Apostle declares that for them 
“the mist of darkness is reserved for ever.” 

417 PRIDE 

No matter how much your preacher may encourage 
pride by precept and example, you indulge in it at the peril 
of your soul. Unless you humble yourself, it will be im¬ 
possible for you to approach God. “The proud he beholdetli 
afar off.” Prayers made up of pompous phrases, or pretty 
elegancies of expression, may excite the admiration of those 
“having itching ears,” but they do not reach the ears of the 
Eternal. Baxter says, “A proud man makes himself his 
God, and sets up himself as his idol: how, then, can his 
affections be set on God? How can he possibly have his 
heart in heaven? Invention and memory may possibly fur¬ 
nish his tongue with humble and heavenly expressions, but 
in his spirit there is no more Heaven than there is humility. 
I speak the more of it because it is the most dangerous sin 
in morality, and most promotes the great sin of infidelity.” 

Reader, watch against pride as thou wouldst keep out 
of hell. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


239 


418 PRIDE, A Damning Sin 

A proud look is mentioned first among the six things 
which God hates; it heads the list of the seven that are 
an abomination unto him (Prov. 6:16, 17). Among those 
who in the last days shall have the form of godliness, but 
who will deny its power, are the proud (2 Tim. 3:2). Pride 
is a damning sin. “For the day of the Lord of hosts shall 
be upon every one that is proud and lofty, and upon every 
one that is lifted up; and he shall be brought low” (Isa. 
2 : 12 ). 

Yet of all the sins to which we are subject, this dan¬ 
gerous one is the most difficult to detect in ourselves. We 
see it readily in others. The proud never think they are 
proud. Pride often lurks under the guise of morality and 
religion. It kneels ip the pew, and talks of humility in 
the pulpit. As Gurnall says, “It can take sanctuary in the 
holiest actions, and hide itself under the skirts of virtue 
itself. It is impossible to starve this sin; and there is 
nothing almost but it can live on; nothing so base that a 
proud heart will not be lifted up with, and nothing so 
sacred but it will profane, even dare to drink in the .bowls 
of the sanctuary; nay, rather than starve, it will feed upon 
the carcasses of other sins.” A church that encourages 
pride in its members does them incalculable harm. 

419 PRIDE Shown in Disputing 

Pride does not always show itself in the apparel. Where 
there is pride in the dress there is pride in the heart. But 
there may be pride in the heart when the dress is perfectly 
plain. Paul says of a certain teacher, “He is proud, knowing 
nothing, but doting about questions and strifes of words, 
whereof cometh envy, strife, railings, evil surmisings, per¬ 
verse disputings of men of corrupt minds, and destitute of 
the truth, supposing that gain is godliness” (1 Tim. 6:4,5). 
So one fond of disputing has reason to fear that he is 
actuated by pride. There may be times when it is one’s 
duty to “contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to 
the saints,” but he must be certain that it is for the faith, 
and that his part of the contention is carried on in a right 


240 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


spirit. But when we see one given to “strifes of words,” 
we must let him alone. Let him fight his own battles. 
“From such withdraw thyself.” 

420 PRIDE, Spiritual 

When one sets himself to be a true Christian and abounds 
in labors and self-denials, then Satan, failing in every other 
method, tries to destroy him through spiritual pride. One 
way in which this is manifested is in the low opinion he 
forms of the piety of those who do not follow in his 
lead, or at least give him their indorsement and support. 
When he is fully under its influence he denounces those 
who oppose him as backsliders or hypocrites. President Ed¬ 
wards says: “Spiritual pride is very apt to suspect others: 
whereas a humble saint is most jealous of himself; he is so 
suspicious of nothing in the world as he is of his own 
heart. Pure Christian humility disposes a person to take 
notice of everything that is in any respect good in others, 
and to make the best of it, and to diminish their failings; 
but to have his eyes chiefly on those things that are bad 
in himself, and to take much notice of everything that ag¬ 
gravates them.” 

421 PROBATIONARY OPPORTUNITIES Soon Gone 

We are passing away. In a little while our places 
will be filled by others. In rapid succession one generation 
follows another. Ages ago, in the days of the Prophet 
Isaiah, the blind Grecian poet, Homer, sang 

“Like leaves on the trees the race of man is found, 

Now green in youth, now withering on the ground; 

Another race the following spring supplies; 

They fall successive and successive rise: 

So generations in their course decay; 

So flourish these when those are passed away.” 

Let us, then, make the most of each day as it passes. 
It will never return. Let us eagerly embrace every oppor¬ 
tunity for getting good and for doing good. Our pro¬ 
bation once gone, we shall never have another. Our destiny 
once settled, it becomes irreversible. Let us consecrate our- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


241 


selves more fully to God than we have ever done. Let us 
seek a perfection of all the Christian graces. As we have 
opportunity let us do good to all with whom we associate. 

422 PROFESSORS, Characteristics of Popular 

A loss of the love of the truth is a sure mark of a back¬ 
slider. A child of God loves the unadulterated Word of 
God. Nor can error and falsehood be dressed up in lan¬ 
guage so eloquent, and adorned with flowers of rhetoric 
so beautiful, as to be acceptable with him. A saint loves 
the homely truth; he hates the gilded lie. No salary, how¬ 
ever great, can induce him to forbear to proclaim the un¬ 
acceptable truth; no company, however refined, can lead him 
away from association with those who seek the truth as it is 
in Jesus. Lovers of shams can not be lovers of Christ. In¬ 
sincerity can never pass current with God, though it be 
clothed in sacred garments. The Apostle says of the back¬ 
sliders of the last days, “And they shall turn away their 
ears from the truth, and shall be turned unto fables.” This 
is an accurate description of the popular professor of to-day. 
Let an earnest man preach the truth as it is laid down in 
their standards, and they will persecute him and drive him 
out. God’s ministers are not wanted. Few pulpits open 
to them. Baptized worldlings found schools of theology to 
raise up preachers of their own liking. This, too, is pre¬ 
dicted. “For the time will come when they will not endure 
the sound doctrine; but, having itching ears, will heap to 
themselves teachers after their own lusts” (2 Tim. 4:3, 
R. V.). These teachers, like professional ball-players, go 
where they can get the largest salary. 

423 PROFESSORS, Fruitless 

A large apple tree in our garden bore no fruit of any 
value from year to year. Its limbs were gnarly. As it 
was neither useful nor ornamental, I cut it down. It was 
sound outside, but decayed within. The shell was only 
about an inch thick, but the bark was well-nigh perfect. 
I then saw the reason why many professors bear no fruit 
that the Lord thinks worth gathering. They seem all right 


242 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


on the outside, but are rotten at heart. They do no great 
wrong—they are too selfish for that—but they do up good. 
Our Lord says that the barren tree shall share the fate 
of the bad tree. In a world where there is so much to be 
done, doing nothing is doing wrong. “ Every tree that 
bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down and cast into 
the fire .” 

424 PROHIBITION and High License 

One of the most absurd arguments against prohibition 
is the assumption that it can not be enforced. In general 
terms it amounts to this: If criminals persist in crime, then 
that crime must be tolerated. This furnishes as good a rea¬ 
son for tolerating theft, by imposing a “high license” upon 
thieves, as it does for legalizing the still more abominable 
business of drunkard-making, by imposing a “high license” 
upon saloon-keepers. Of course liquor-sellers do not care for 
prohibition laws, nor for any other laws, only as it is for 
their interest to. They are bad to the core. The man who, 
for the sake of trifling gains, will rob his fellow of his man¬ 
hood, and by making him a drunkard expose him to every 
evil that can befall a human being, will of course trample 
prohibitory laws under foot if he is permitted to. But “high 
license” does not help the matter at all. Unless he is com¬ 
pelled to, he has no more respect for “high license” than for 
prohibition. If he could not be made to stop his hellish 
business in any other way, he should be shut up in State’s 
prison for life. There prohibition is enforced. 

425 PROHIBITION Needed for All 

It is a great mistake to suppose that prohibition is needed 
only for weak-minded men. If once an appetite for spirit¬ 
uous liquors is formed, the strongest are liable to become its 
victims. Daniel Webster was intellectually the strongest 
man this country ever produced. But strong drink over- 
came Daniel Webster. This man of towering intellect, ot 
matchless eloquence, “the expounder of the Constitution,” 
“the godlike Daniel,” was sometimes seen in public, help¬ 
lessly intoxicated. Among the literary giants which Eng- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


243 


land lias produced, the name of Samuel Johnson is placed 
in the front rank. But Samuel Johnson said to Boswell, 
“I can be abstemious but not temperate.” 

We need prohibition for our great men, as well as for 
those in the common walks of life. 

426 PROMISES 

We shall receive the promises if we inherit the prom¬ 
ises. But our identity must be established. If we claim 
a promise, when we are not one of the persons to whom 
the promise was made, our claim will be disallowed. We 
must also ascertain the true meaning of the promise. The 
Jews believed the promises relating to the Messiah, but they 
put a wrong interpretation upon them; and so they did 
not know him when he came. 

“Godliness is profitable unto all things, having promise 
of the life that now is, and of that which is to come (1 Tim. 
4:8). This is true. It is always true. But that which 
seeks the profits is not godliness. It is very far from it. 
It is selfishness dressed in a religious garb. To have the 
life that now is, and to enjoy it, too, one does not need 
wealth. The greatest happiness that this world can afford 
may be enjoyed in comparative poverty. 

So two mistakes are made about this promise. (1) It 
is not made to mere formalists. (2) It does not hold out 
the riches and honors of this world as the reward of god¬ 
liness. 

427 PROPERTY Consecrated 

If you are truly consecrated to the Lord, then is your 
property also consecrated to the Lord. In all your ex¬ 
penditures of money you should seek for Divine direction. 
You should have the approbation of God on the way you 
make money, and on the way you spend money. Be strictly 
conscientious in giving to every one his due. You can not 
come back to rectify mistakes. You can not go to Heaven 
without being strictly honest. Deal honestly with men 
while you live; and deal justly with God when you die. 
If you leave property, leave a portion of it where it can 


244 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


help on the cause of God. Pray over it till you find out 
what you ought to do, and then do it in season. Make 
your will while you are well; you do not know how soon 
you may become helpless, or how suddenly you may die. 
Make it legally, so that there will be no trouble over it 
when you are gone, and so that the lawyers will not get 
the larger portion of your property. Remember God in 
your WILL. 

428 PROPERTY in Old Age 

If you are getting along in years, and God has given you 
property to support you when you are no longer able to 
earn a living, then take care of it. Do not run any risk of 
losing it. If you own a farm, keep it, though it may not 
be very profitable. Even if you can not work it, you can 
have a good home in the house, and you can let out land 
on shares to raise your living. If you sell it for money, 
persons in whom you have confidence will get your money 
under plausible pretenses and “without any fault of theirs” 
will lose it, and leave you in your old age poor and de¬ 
pendent. If you move into the city, somebody will con¬ 
vince you that you can soon double your money in a business 
venture which he will manage for you, and the first you 
know the hard earnings of years will be scattered. If God 
has given you a comfortable home, do not part with it in 
your declining years, unless you know that it is his will 
that you should. 

429 PROPHESYING in the Spirit 

St Paul says, “He that prophesieth speaketh unto men 
to edification, and comfort.” He speaks under the direct 
inspiration of the Spirit. Preachers should so speak; and 
so should all of God’s people. The Lord said through Joel, 
“I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh; and your sons 
and your daughters shall prophesy” (Joel 2:28). This be¬ 
gan to be fulfilled upon the day of Pentecost. The 
promise reaches down to the end of time. We should look 
for its fulfilment in all our congregations. We should give 
all encouragement to men or women who speak “to edifi- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


245 


cation, and exhortation, and comfort.” There are good 
congregations and a deep interest where this takes place. 
But from a church the members of which “bite and devour 
one another,” people naturally keep away. Denunciation 
is not prophesying. To revile those who revile you, does 
not require the Spirit.of Christ. Any sinner can do that. 
To speak in the Spirit, we must have the Spirit, we must 
live in the Spirit. 

A society that lives in the Spirit, and prays and prophe¬ 
sies in the Spirit, will have a continuous revival. They 
may have a weak preacher, or they may have no preacher; 
but they will prosper in their souls, and the Lord will add 
to their numbers men and women who are in earnest to get 
to Heaven. This is what St. Paul says: “But if all proph¬ 
esy, and there come in one that believeth not, or one un¬ 
learned, he is convinced of all, he is judged of all: and thus 
are the secrets of his heart made manifest; and so falling 
down on his face he will worship God, and report that God 
is in you of a truth” (1 Cor. 14:24, 25). This result is 
frequently witnessed. People who go to such meetings 
through curiosity, and perhaps full of prejudice, go away 
to lead a praying life. They get convicted by the Spirit 
when they least expect it; and if they are honest with God, 
and yield to their convictions, they will be saved. We 
have known such a church to have a revival right along for 
years. Try and have your church such an one. You may 
think it is not possible, but “all things are possible to him 
that believeth.” You can do your part towards it, and 
that may accomplish more than you imagine. But in any 
event your effort will secure a great blessing for yourself. 

430 PROVIDENCE: Christ Cares for Faithful Servants 

It is encouraging to see how Christ provides for one who 
follows him fully. Dr. J. W. Redfield was a physician of 
a lucrative practise in New York City. God called him to 
go out and labor as an evangelist. His success was won¬ 
derful. Thousands were converted and sanctified under his 
labors. He did not heal slightly. He did a thorough work, 
the fruits of which remain. He made no stipulations for pay, 


246 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


but generally bore his own expenses. As years passed by, and 
age began to steal upon him, he said, “I do not know but 
I ought to go to work and lay by something for old age 
or disability.” But he never could find the place to break 
off from his great work of soul-saving and go to money¬ 
making. He was struck down with paralysis. Immediately 
God laid it upon a wealthy farmer, who had been fully saved 
in his meetings, to take care of him. This brother took 
him to his home and devoted his time wholly to taking care 
of him during the two or three years that he lived. If Dr. 
Redfield had been worth a million dollars he could not have 
procured the care and attention, for money, that were be¬ 
stowed upon him through love. 

Here is another brother who has followed Christ fully 
in the work of the ministry. As a boy he began to labor 
among us, at the very beginning of the Free Methodist work. 
He never sought for an appointment, but always went 
cheerfully to the work assigned him. Wherever he went, he 
threw his whole soul into the work of soul-saving. Without 
any effort on his part, the people cheerfully took good 
care of him and his family. He never bought or built a 
house for himself. He kept out of debt. When, in answer 
to the call for help, he went to the frontier, with its small 
salaries and great hardships, though fine land was plenty, 
contrary to the example of preachers generally, he took up 
no “claim.” He gave himself wholly to the work of the 
ministry. But all these years the Lord has wonderfully 
cared for him. His children have been well educated, and 
all enjoy salvation, and are filling responsible positions. His 
brow has scarcely a wrinkle in it, his head not a gray hair 
on it. 

When the disciples went out, without purse or scrip, 
to proclaim the gospel, on their return the Master asked, 
“Lacked ye any thing?” They said, “Nothing, Lord.” Christ 
is still the same. His resources are still the same. 

431 PROVIDENCE, Act in Harmony With 

We should take no important step without Divine di¬ 
rection. It is promised us. and we should insist upon having 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


247 


it. “In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct 
thy paths’’ (Prov. 3:6). Much praying before a matter is 
decided upon would often save from much suffering which 
results from a wrong decision which has been made. It is 
better not to move at all than to go against the providences 
of God. He has a place for each of us, and a work for 
each of us to do. Let us seek to find our work and our 
place, and accept them thankfully, however humble they 
may be. The weakest member of the body, if it properly 
fulfils its functions, contributes to the welfare of the whole. 

“Honor and shame from no condition rise. 

Act well thy part: there all the honor lies.” 

God has a will concerning us. Let us find out what it 
is and steadily follow it out. When we are workers with 
him, our labor is never in vain. 

432 PROVIDENCES OF GOD 

The providences of God are always in harmony with his 
Spirit. When Cornelius, prompted by the Spirit of God, 
sends for Peter, the Apostle is supernaturally prepared to 
accept the call. The coat fits the back for which it was 
made. The door is opened for him who should pass through 
it. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says: “How exactly does everything 
in the conduct of providence occur; and how completely is 
everything adapted to time, place and occasion! All is in 
weight, measure and number. Those simple occurences 
which men snatch at, and press into the service of their own 
wishes, and call them providential openings, may indeed be 
links of a providential chain, in reference to some other 
matter; but unless they be found to speak the same lan¬ 
guage in all their parts, occurence corresponding with oc¬ 
currence, they are not to be construed as indications of 
the Divine will in reference to the claimants. Many per¬ 
sons, through these misapprehensions miscarrying, have 
been led to charge God foolishly for the unsuccessful issue 
of some business in which their passions, not his provi¬ 
dence, led them to engage.” 


248 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


433 PUBLIC TEACHING 

We are told to be “ready always to give an answe*r 
to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that 
is in you, with meekness and fear” (1 Pet. 3:15). If we 
are to be prepared to give a reason for our hope, we cer¬ 
tainly ought to be for the teaching we give the public. Un¬ 
less we have some reputation for wisdom, people will not 
care much for our opinions. The opinion of even the 
wisest, if unsupported by experience, or other good rea¬ 
sons, is not reliable. Vituperation and ridicule, and con¬ 
fident assertions, prove nothing, unless it be the badness 
of the cause which they are employed to support. “Wis¬ 
dom hath builded her house, she hath hewn out her seven 
pillars” (Prov. 9:1). She has something substantial on 
which to rest. Let us see that we build on the indestruc¬ 
tible pillars of wisdom. 

434 PULPIT: Enter It Prepared 

Not only prepare your sermons, but select your Scripture 
lessons and your hymns before you go into the pulpit. Do 
not keep your congregation waiting while you are looking 
over the Bible and hymn-book for something. The best 
professional elocutionists never read a piece before the 
public till they have read it many times in private, and be¬ 
come so familiar with it that they can read it with effect. 
We have seen a congregation all melted down in reading 
the first hymn. The one who read it was filled with the 
Spirit. 

Sunshine and showers always help that wheat most 
which was sown on land that was prepared with the great¬ 
est care. So the Spirit always helps a preacher most who 
has conscientiously studied, faithfully visited, earnestly 
prayed, and carefully walked with God during the week. 
And the great thing in preaching is to minister the Spirit. 

435 PUNISHMENT, Future 

The Bible teaches future punishment just as plainly as 
it does future rewards. It declares that there is a hell 
as emphatically as it does that there is a Heaven. If you 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


249 


have any doubt about it, take your concordance and read 
the passages that speak of these two places of future exist¬ 
ence. You will also find that we are warned against going 
to hell as earnestly as we are persuaded to go to Heaven. 
The New Testament, especially, abounds in vehement ex¬ 
hortations to flee from the ivrath to come. Our Lord’s 
Sermon on the Mount is full of warning. “And if thy 
right eye offend thee, pluck it out and cast it from thee: 
for it is profitable for thee that one of thy members should 
perish, and not that thy whole body should be cast into 
hell’’ (Matt. 5:29). You may as well reject the Bible 
entirely, as to say there is no hell. 

436 PURPOSE, Singleness of 

Paul said, “This one thing I do.’’ He was a man of one 
work. He was a great traveler; but he traveled solely for 
the purpose of evangelizing the nations. He sometimes 
worked at his trade, tent-making; but it was for the one 
purpose of supporting himself and his fellow workers in 
preaching the gospel. He lay in prison for two years at 
a time; but such was his reputation for sanctity that peo¬ 
ple came to him in the prison to hear words by which they 
might be saved. It would seem that his gospel message 
reached the family of the emperor; for, writing to the 
Philippians, he said, “All the saints salute you, chiefly 
they that are of Caesar’s household’’ (Phil. 4:22). 

A man thus devoted to the work of soul-saving, whom 
no privations can discourage, no persecutions silence, can 
but meet with marked success. 

437 QUIETNESS an Element of Strength 

“In quietness and in confidence shall be your strength” 
(Isa. 30:15). A weak horse, tugging at a heavy load, at¬ 
tempts to move it by jerks and plunges. A strong, well- 
trained one settles down to it, takes very short steps at 
first, gets under motion, and then moves off with it. Car¬ 
lyle says it is “a fundamental mistake to call vehemence and 
rigidity strength. A man is not strong who takes con¬ 
vulsive fits; though six men can not hold • him then. He 
that can walk under the heaviest weight without staggering, 


250 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


he is the strong man. A man who can not hold his peace 
till the time comes for speaking and acting, is no right man.” 

In two ways we gain by quietness. First, we steadily 
accumulate strength; and then, when expenditure is really 
called for, we spend it to the best advantage. Many waste 
in fretful, ill-natured remarks *an amount of nervous energy 
which, if saved, would carry them triumphantly through 
great trials. 

438 READING, Give Attention to 

It is a misfortune to be ignorant. And yet in many 
respects we are all ignorant. What the most learned 
knows, is but little in comparison with what he does not 
know. It is a still greater misfortune to think that we know 
it all, than to be ignorant. Such is the decision of holy 
writ. ‘‘Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is 
more hope of a fool than of him” (Prov. 26:12). He who 
is conscious that he does not know much, is willing to re¬ 
ceive instruction. And willing learners can always find 
good teachers. But self-conceit shuts out instruction, as 
a thick wall laid in mortar shuts out light. We once told 
a preacher, whose sameness in preaching was becoming 
tedious, that he ought to redd more. His emphatic reply 
was, ‘‘What shall I read?” It takes but a few years for 
such preachers to run out. They are not long in demand. 

439 RECKLESSNESS 

Recklessness is not faith, nor is it one of the fruits of 
faith. It is rather the offspring of unbelief and despair. 
A man who sets out to cross a stormy sea, in a boat which 
he knows to be old and leaky, has no right to talk about 
having faith in God for a prosperous voyage. The farmer 
who plants poor seed on poor soil, poorly prepared, and who 
neglects to take the necessary care of it, can not have any 
proper faith that God will give him an abundant harvest. 
So one who sets at defiance the laws of health which God 
has ordained, has no right to expect that God will give 
him health. 

In matters physical, as well as in matters spiritual, there 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


251 


are conditions which we must meet in order to realize 
the desired results. Faith in God is shown by our obedi¬ 
ence to the laws of God. “What doth it profit, my brethren, 
though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can 
faith save him?” (James 2:14). “For as the body without 
the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also” 
(James 2:26). 

440 REFORMING MEN Not Sufficient 

It is not to be reformed a little, or to be reformed a 
great deal, that men in a state of nature need, but to be 
raised from the dead. Decorating corpses is at best but 
useless. Gilded coffins and costly sepulchers do dead men 
no good. No benefit can be conferred on them unless they 
are first restored to life. “He that hath the Son hath 
life; and he that hath not the Son of God hath not life” 
(1 John 5:12). Then let us aim, not merely at reform¬ 
ing men, but let us strive to persuade them to come to 
Christ that they may have life. If we fail in doing this, 
however much we may succeed in other things, our min¬ 
istry is but a failure. For a minister to drop into a mere 
reformer, is a public, though perhaps undesigned, acknowl¬ 
edgment that he has lost his power. 

441 REGENERATION or Reformation, Which? 

There were great social evils in the time of Paul. So¬ 
ciety was corrupt. Slavery, intemperance and licentiousness 
abounded. But Paul never became a mere reformer. He 
organized no anti-slavery or temperance or social-purity so¬ 
cieties. He preached a gospel which rooted out all moral 
evils. He laid the ax at the root of the tree. Society be¬ 
came reformed by the regeneration of many of its members. 
Their influence elevated in the moral scale those who were 
not converted. 

442 RELATIVES, Aged and Helpless, Should Be Cared for 

Paul, speaking of “children and nephews,” says: “Let 
them learn first to show piety at home” (1 Tim. 5:4). He 
has special reference to their manifesting their piety by 


252 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


providing toy the wants of those who, when they were 
helpless, cared for them. The religion of the child who 
can let the parent suffer, when it is in his power to relieve 
him, is of a very bad quality. It is not the religion of the 
Bible. In some heathen lands it is the custom to expose 
their aged men and women, and suffer them to die through 
neglect. True Christianity does away with all such bar¬ 
barous practises. In a Christian land the poorhouse is no 
place for one who has “children or nephews,” strong and 
well. They should make it their business to care for the 
aged and helpless relative. Among the Ten Command¬ 
ments, the only one that has a promise attached to it is: 
“Honour thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be 
long in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee.” 

443 RELIGION, Foundation of True Greatness 

Nothing takes hold of the deepest nature of man like 
religion. Questions concerning our duty and our destiny 
are the greatest questions we have to solve. It is but a 
superficial, insincere nature than can dismiss such questions 
with a sarcasm or a sneer. All truly great men have been 
religious men. Homer, Virgil, Dante, Shakespeare and Mil- 
ton all derived a large share of their inspiration from re¬ 
ligious truths current in their times. Even the great war¬ 
riors of the world recognized the authority, and invoked the 
aid, of the Divine Power above us. The ranks of atheism 
have never furnished a great poet or a great commander. 

The young man who aims at distinction by scoffing at 
religion is not likely ever to attain to any higher distinction. 
Unless he completely turns about and becomes converted, an 
inglorious career, ending in shame and everlasting contempt, 
is before him. 

444 RELIGION Not in Externals 

Much time spent in the externals of religion is fruit¬ 
lessly spent. Not that the externals are of no account: 
they are of great account as indications of the state of the 
heart, and as the manifestations of a gracious or ungracious 
disposition of the soul. But much that is done is really 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


253 


nothing more than a protracted effort to make a corrupt 
tree bring forth good fruit. The best that can be done in 
this direction is the production of an attractive but worthless 
imitation. All who believe should be careful to maintain good 
works; but they should see that the good works are genuine, 
and not false counterfeits—that they spring from humble 
faith and ardent love of God, and not from a love of praise 
and an expectation of earthly rewards. 

When one habitually fails to do right, it is because he 
is not right. Efforts to do right should not be relaxed; 
but efforts to do right should be redoubled. Make the fruit 
good; but the only successful way to do it is to make the 
tree good. Humble confession to God, earnest prayer, 
obedience to the inward strivings of the Spirit, will bring 
us where God can accomplish the work. True religion does 
not consist in anything external, but in righteousness, peace 
and joy in the Holy Ghost. 

445 RELIGION, Our, a Benefit to All 

Our religion should, in some way, benefit every one we 
come in contact with. It should make us more considerate of 
others, more faithful in all the common duties of life. 
“For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to 
himself” (Rom. 14:7). This is said of all true Christians. 


446 RELIGION, Trading in, For Profit 

Trading in principles is a disastrous business. It is 
a cheat all around. It has much the appearance of dealing 
in counterfeit money. The one who sells knows that he is 
practising a fraud; the one who buys knows that he is 
getting something which he expects to sell for more than its 
actual value. The religion that is disposed of for a money 
consideration is not worth the price paid for it, however 
trifling that may be. It is worse than worthless. It will 
not save the soul, and it effectually prevents one from seek¬ 
ing that sanctification without which no man shall see the 
Lord. Judas gained nothing by selling Christ. His silver 
became a weary burden that he could not carry. The 
transaction was equally fatal to the other parties to the 


254 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


bargain. O ye compromising professors! Will ye not con¬ 
sider the words of Christ: “What shall it profit a man, if 
he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?” 

447 RELIGION, Mixed, a Curse 

Mixed religion is the curse of Christendom. It is a 
greater obstruction to the spread of the gospel than infi¬ 
delity in all its varied forms. A Christian faith combined 
with heathen forms of worship and worldly rules of con¬ 
duct deludes and demoralizes wherever it prevails. To be 
conformed to the world, while professing to serve God, is as 
fatal a symptom as is the act of “stealing the livery of 
Heaven to serve the devil in.” They both show a division 
of purpose that renders it impossible to worship God ac¬ 
ceptably. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon” is the 
great lesson which the professed Christians of to-day need 
to be taught. The preacher who ministers at the altars of 
Freemasonry, because of his devotion to its principles, 
should not be allowed to preach from Christian pulpits to 
get a living. Singing songs of Zion, and manifesting sin¬ 
ful tempers, will never take one to Heaven. Prayer and 
pride do not go well together. Prayer may feed pride; 
but pride kills prayer. The gospel of expediency is a 
damning substitute for the gospel of Christ. See to it that 
your religion is pure. Accept no mixture of celestial and 
infernal principles, be they ever so skilfully compounded. 
“Meditate upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; 
that thy profiting may appear to all.” 

448 RELIGIOUS NEWSPAPER, The Province of a 

We do not intentionally assail the moral character of any 
person, especially of any minister or member in good stand¬ 
ing, or permit it to be done, in these columns. A newspaper 
is not a tribunal for the trial of church-members, or of any 
one else. But it is a proper place for a temperate discussion 
of methods. While discussing these, we should be careful 
and not reflect upon the Christian integrity of others; but 
we should, on the other hand, guard against an over-sensi¬ 
tiveness when we read what others write in opposition to our 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


255 


views or practises. We should not assume that one thinks 
we are not Christians because he can not agree with us. 
When he says that the tendency of a given course of action 
is bad, we should not take it for granted that he says the 
actor is bad. We should construe it, as it was intended, as 
a question of methods, rather than one of morals. The best 
construction that can fairly be given words is the char¬ 
itable construction. When a man says one thing in print, 
we should not proceed to denounce him for saying something 
entirely different, which we may choose to think he meant. 
We should not charge one with meaning worse than he says. 

Conscience and candor should be called into exercise 
in reading, as well as in writing. Give these full play, and 
it will prevent a good deal of hard feeling. 

449 RELIGIOUS AND POLITICAL ARISTOCRACY 

The popular churches of this country have set the example 
of establishing an aristocracy based on wealth. The best 
seats in the grand houses of worship are sold to the ones 
who will pay the most for them. 

The great political parties are following the example of 
the great churches. In the Senate of the United States there 
are said to be sixteen millionaires worth eighty millions of 
dollars! Probably every one of them owes his election to 
his wealth! 

The government of ancient Rome was much stronger than 
ours. It stood hundreds of years and was, humanly speak¬ 
ing. firmly established. But when its people became cor¬ 
rupt, and offices were bought and sold, and mammon seized 
the reins of power, the state fell to pieces from its own 
corruptions. Its enemies triumphed over it, and its people 
were reduced to slavery. 

Our nation is in danger, not from without, but from 
within. The prosperity of fools shall destroy them. 

450 REPROACH Improper Among Saints 

A church composed of only those who, before they were 
converted, led respectable lives, could hardly, in the present 
state of society, be called a church of Jesus Christ. He 


256 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


came to call, “not tlie righteous, but sinners to repentance.” 
The rags from which one sheet of paper was made may 
have come from a lady’s parlor; those from which another 
sheet was made may have come from the gutter. But now 
you can not tell the difference. One sheet may be just 
as white, and just as good, as the other. The one from 
the parlor never reproaches the one from the gutter for 
its origin. Both had to be cleansed by the same process. 
It is so with God’s saints. Their excellency depends, not on 
what they were, but on what they are. One should never ac¬ 
cuse another of his sinful condition when he came to Christ. 

What if he or she did marry when young and wicked, 
and obtained a divorce on other grounds than those per¬ 
mitted by the Scriptures? Their scriptural right to a di¬ 
vorce now , no one questions. But as they were long ago 
legally divorced, they can not obtain another one now. 
And if they could, it would be a needless expense. They 
give every evidence of being forgiven, and of leading a 
Christian life, that you could ask for in any other case. 
Then let them alone. If God has forgiven them you must 
forgive them, if you would yourself be forgiven. Do not 
be so afraid that the church will be disgraced. It will not 
be disgraced by the bad conduct of its members prior to 
their being saved, if they are now leading holy lives. But 
it is disgraced by those who, professing to be saved, are 
guilty of backbiting and slandering others. You should 
try to help, and not to hinder, those who have been rescued 
from the very clutches of Satan. If they have repented, 
brought forth fruits meet for repentance, and are now 
blameless in their lives, it is a fiendish work to bring up 
the past against them. If God has covered it by his Spirit, 
let it stay covered. Satan is the accuser of the brethren. Do 
not help him in his nefarious work. The former bad con¬ 
duct of a person now saved of God is one of the things you 
are required to forget. 

451 REPROACHING One’s Neighbor 

Taking up a reproach against a neighbor is dangerous 
business. One can not follow it, and go to Heaven. Per- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


257 


sons have been killed recently by handling old shells that 
had been dropped twenty-five years ago, during the war. 
If you should happen to plow one up you had better bury 
it again. If people bring to you reproaches against their 
neighbor, carry them no farther. If they lay them down 
at your door, leave them there till they die. Positively 
refuse to have anything to do with them. You take them 
up at your peril. They are an unclean thing, which we 
are not permitted to touch. Scandal-mongers should find no 
market for their wares at the house of a Christian. They 
may offer to give them to you; but you should spurn all 
such offers, as you would an offer to give you the smallpox, 
or the yellow fever. 

452 REPROOF 

Before you reprove, be certain that the reproof is de¬ 
served. If you hear, or see, anything in another that you 
think is wrong, do not condemn, either publicly or privately, 
until you are fully assured that you have a right under¬ 
standing of the matter. If possible, get the views and ex¬ 
planations of the party concerned. 

A preacher, in his sermon one Sunday morning, gave 
his members a severe chastising for neglecting a sick sister. 
At the close of the meeting, several asked him what he 
meant. He said that a sister who lived across the street 
from him, had been sick for three weeks, and none of the 
members had visited her. 

“Why did you not tell us before? We did not know that 
she was sick.” 

“I did not know it till yesterday.” 

Yet he reproved his people publicly and sharply for not 
doing what they did not know needed to be done. There 
is often no more foundation for scolding sermons than in 
this case. 

Mr. Wesley was once about to drop a member for covet¬ 
ousness. He knew the brother’s income, and thought he 
did not pay for the cause as much as he ought to. He 
went to the suspected brother about it. He found that 
the brother was living upon eighteen pence a week—some- 


258 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


times made an entire meal out of boiled turnips—that he 
might pay debts which he had contracted before he be¬ 
came a Christian! So, instead of censure, Wesley gave 
him a hearty commendation. 

Before you administer reproof, make it a rule to go to 
the party concerned and, with a loving spirit and in quiet 
tones, find out the facts and explanations in the case. 

453 REPROOF, Manner of 

Reproof, to do good, must be wisely given. Much de¬ 
pends upon the occasion chosen and the manner employed. 
Generally, the person offending should be taken alone. If 
others not interested are present, he will naturally put him¬ 
self upon the defensive. Instead of confessing where he is 
wrong, he will endeavor to lay the blame on others. Then 
the manner should be kind, the tones of voice quiet and 
tender, the words chosen the gentlest that will answer. 
What wisdom Nathan used with David! The object should 
be, not simply to do our duty, but to restore the erring. 
“Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which are 
spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meekness; 
considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted.” 

454 REPROOF Should be Taken Kindly 

Preachers should have the consideration, the respect, 
the sympathy, and the support of their people. You should 
give some candid thought to your preacher, his circumstances, 
his trials, and his necessities, and ask yourself the question, 
“What can I do to help him?” If he gives you well-meant 
reproof, you should not be restive under it, even though you 
find that you do not deserve it. A saved soul is not touchy 
and over-sensitive. If you are not right, you should be thank¬ 
ful to have the fact shown to you; and, even if it does hurt 
your feelings somewhat, you should be willing to have it 
pointed out; and you should set yourself to get right. On 
the other hand, if you are all right, and the Word of God 
does not condemn you, and the Spirit gives you his indorse¬ 
ment, and fills you with comfort, why should you be troubled, 
though you are misunderstood and misjudged? “For what 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


259 


glory is it if, when ye be buffeted for your faults, ye shall 
take it patiently? but if, when ye do well, and suffer for it, 
ye take it patiently, this is acceptable with God. For even 
hereunto were ye called” (1 Pet. 2: 20, 21). 

455 RESURRECTION Power Required 

In our articles of religion we say that we believe in the 
resurrection of the dead. This refers to the bodies which 
have gone down to the grave. We also believe in the 
resurrection of dead souls, and dead societies. But this 
can be effected only by the power of God. It will not 
do any good to denounce them. We must be able to so 
prophesy upon these bones, that there will be a “shaking,” 
and “a noise,” and a “coming together bone to his bone,” 
till the “breath come into them and they live.” In this 
way many dead societies have been resurrected. But it 
is of no use for you to try it, if you are .as dead as the 
rest. You must yourself first be brought to life. Come 
to him who is the “resurrection and the life,” for power to 
enable you to help others to come to life. The dead can 
not raise the dead. 

456 REVIVALS 

Push on the work of revivals. If there is no special 
stir in your church, try and awaken an interest. Look at 
the multitude about you, thronging the broad way that 
leads to destruction, until a burden for souls comes upon 
you. Concern begets concern. Earnest, importunate, be¬ 
lieving prayer will be answered in the awakening of souls. 
If there is a revival interest, keep it up and increase it. 
Attend the meetings. Be there in time to take an active part 
in the opening exercises. Sing heartily. Pray earnestly. 
Get blessed. Give others a chance. Be short. Do not scold. 
If you stand in the way of any one, make such an humble 
confession as will remove every hindrance. Break down 
others by breaking down yourself. Do your own confessing, 
and let others do theirs. Make no issues. Avoid personal 
attacks upon any one. Be clothed with humility. 


260 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


457 REVIVALS Needed 

We hope that every Free Methodist appointment will 
go in at once for a revival of the work of God. A revival 
is needed in every place. Sin abounds. Multitudes make 
no profession of religion. Of those belonging to the. churches, 
but few give scriptural evidence of being born of God. 
Many were never converted. Many who were once con¬ 
verted are now backslidden. Spiritual death reigns. It is 
epidemic. Those who were once alive are dying all around 
us. Hills and valleys are covered with the bones of the 
dead. And they are very dry. Everywhere the great want 
is an outpouring of the Spirit of God. Unless God breathe 
upon these dry bones, they shall never live. But the 
breath of the Almighty can cause a resurrection where 
everything betokens a condition utterly hopeless. Those 
who believe in God should never despair. There is help in 
him. These dead can live. “And think not to say within 
yourselves, We have Abraham to our father: for I say 
unto you, that God is able of these stones to raise up chil¬ 
dren unto Abraham” (Matt. 3:9). 

458 REVIVALS Needed in Every Locality 

We are very desirous that all our preachers, and all our 
people, should go to work to promote a revival of religion 
in their respective localities. There is not a town in all this 
land in which a revival is not needed. Everywhere, sinners 
in the church, and sinners out of the church, are going to 
hell. The worse the state of religion and morals in the 
community, the greater is the necessity for a revival. If 
you want to do the work of an evangelist, there is plenty of 
room for the exercise of all your energies in any of our 
circuits. If you desire to become a missionary, begin your 
training at once by doing mission work in your own neigh¬ 
borhood. 

“If you want a field of labor, 

You can find it anywhere.” 

Who will consecrate his service for this work to the 
Lord? 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


261 


459 REVIVAL, A Genuine 

So rigid was the discipline among the old Spartans that 
a campaign was looked upon by them in the light of a 
pleasant duty. So it is with every real Christian. His 
best days are when he is putting forth the most vigorous 
efforts for the salvation of men. He loves revival scenes. 
The cry for mercy of the convicted sinner, groaning under 
the load of his sins, and the shouts of the redeemed, fall 
like sweet music upon his ear. We are never so happy— 
never so raised above the world—as when God condescends 
to use us as his “battle axe to break in pieces the nations” 
of sinners, and to “destroy kingdoms” of darkness. 

But a revival, to be a blessing and not a curse, must 
be accompanied with the purification of the church. The 
old Pharisees made proselytes, but they were twofold more 
the children of hell than themselves. So it is with the con¬ 
verts of a cold, dead, formal, fashionable church. Among 
the old members are many who were once soundly converted, 
and who, when they were poor, and when their church was 
persecuted and despised, really enjoyed religion. These 
are generally, unless they are living in the secret commission 
of flagrant sin, sufficiently in sympathy with salvation not 
to oppose it very bitterly. But when unrenewed men in 
large numbers get into the church and take the reins of 
government into their hands, then the opposition to the 
life and power of godliness becomes too formidable to be 
successfully encountered. Then the sanctuary of the Most 
High is turned into a market-place where the right of 
worshiping God is sold by auction to the highest bidder. 
Then fairs and festivals, pleasure rides, oyster suppers and 
sociables, become the order of the day. True religion is 
treated with ridicule, and those who enjoy it are stigmatized 
as fanatical or superstitious. 

A genuine revival is one that leads its subjects to get 
right with God and man, that leads the stout-hearted to 
bow in humble submission at the feet of Jesus. Brother, 
would you enjoy a revival? Begin at once to search your 
own heart. Get right at any cost. Wherein you have 
wronged any one in his character or property, make con- 


262 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


fession and restitution to the utmost of your ability. Con¬ 
secrate yourself fully to God for all coming time. 

“They that turn many to righteousness shall shine as 
the stars for ever and ever.” If your converts are many, 
it will be because you are diligent and earnest. You must 
do much personal work. Men do not usually flock in multi¬ 
tudes to the standard of the cross. They are drawn and 
won—one here, another there. 

460 REVIVAL Implies New Life 

A revival in a church does not depend so much upon 
the spiritual condition of a church as it does upon its 
taking a step forward in the divine life. A church may 
be in a good spiritual condition, every member may en¬ 
joy the blessing of holiness; they may be united, and have 
the respect and confidence of the community; the preacher 
may be able and laborious; but if they do not get melted 
down by the Spirit, and get fresh blessings on their souls, 
they will not likely enjoy a revival of any permanence or 
depth. On the other hand, if they are divided and back¬ 
slidden, yet if they will turn to the Lord “with all their 
heart, and with fasting, and with weeping, and with mourn¬ 
ing : and rend their hearts and not their garments,” that is, 
have true inward humility, God will pour out his Spirit 
upon them, and there will be a blessed revival of religion. 

It was after David had grievously backslidden, and re¬ 
turned to the Lord, and prayed for pardon and for a clean 
heart, that he prayed, “Restore unto me the joy of thy 
salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit. Then will 
I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be con¬ 
verted unto thee” (Ps. 51:12, 13). 

Not that it is not better for all to lead holy lives. But 
if we would see an outpouring of the Spirit, w r e must break 
down before God, and get new touches of divine power. 

461 REVIVAL, Old-Fashioned 

Where is not a revival needed? Where are the people 
all living together in holy love, on their way to Heaven, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


263 


with songs, and everlasting joy on their heads? Where does 
not sin abound? Where does not the church need purifying? 

An old-fashioned revival will do more to settle diffi¬ 
culties than arbitrations or church trials. It will improve 
the neighborhood. It will help on every needed reform. 
Salvation from sin removes the great cause of bickerings 
and dissensions and neighborhood difficulties. Nothing will 
help the finances of a church like a thorough revival of the 
work of God. Above all, it will glorify God in the salvation 
of souls. 

Then lay yourself out for a revival. Make your plans 
to have one. Consecrate yourself to God to do all you can 
to promote one. Let your cry to Heaven be, O Lord , revive 
thy ivork. 

462 REVIVALS Not by Chance 

Revivals do not come by chance. A harvest of souls is 
no more gathered by accident than is a harvest of wheat. 
In the first case well-directed labor is as necessary as in 
the latter. It takes a hard, heavy soil to raise good crops 
of wheat from year to year; and a great harvest of souls 
has often been gathered from the most unpromising fields. 

Charles G. Finney, the greatest revivalist of his day, said, 

‘ A revival is the result of the right use of the appropriate 
means. The means which God has enjoined for the pro¬ 
duction of a revival, doubtless, have a natural tendency to 
produce a revival. Otherwise God would not have enjoined 
them. But means will not produce a revival, we all know, 
without the blessing of God. It is impossible for us to 
say that there is not as direct an influence or agency from 
God, to produce a crop of grain, as there is to produce a 
revival.” Reader, ask the Lord what he will have you do’ 
to promote a revival. 

463 REVIVAL, General Suggestions For a 

If you would have a revival, you must not only agree in 
asking for it. but you must agree as touching it. You must 
take hold together to remove every obstacle that stands in 


264 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


the way of a revival. Just as far as possible get all dis¬ 
sensions among the members healed. Put a stop to all real 
inconsistencies which are naturally held up by sinners as 
a reason why they do not get converted. 

Make the room comfortable in which the meetings are to 
be held. Give to the people not only public but personal 
invitations to come to the meetings. Be always present your¬ 
self at the opening of every service, and look to have the 
Spirit poured out in the singing of the first hymn. Lay 
aside all jealousy, and all desire of prominence, and take 
hold heartily with any one with whom God is pleased to 
work. Manifest your interest in, and your agreement with, 
everything that is of God. Do not seek to have attention di¬ 
rected to yourself, but be willing to work unnoticed and un¬ 
appreciated by mortals. You know the wheel that turns the 
mill is out of sight. Keep filled with love, and carry with 
you a gracious influence into every place you enter. Have 
a faith that never wavers, and try to inspire it in others. 

464 REVIVAL: Begin Right 

One reason why revivals are not more extensive and 
more permanent is, that they do not begin right. In goods 
made according to a pattern, no pains are spared to have 
a perfect pattern. The preachers and the workers in a 
revival will, to a great extent, shape the experience of the 
converts. If the workers are cold and formal, the converts 
will be weak and unstable. Pharisees do not make converts 
like themselves. They have their faults doubled in in¬ 
tensity. This is what our Savior said. Then, if you would 
have a revival, begin with yourselves. Stir up yourselves 
to take hold of God. You can not impart to others what 
you do not have. If you would communicate spiritual life, 
you must have spiritual life; and you need to have it more 
abundantly. Prayers from the dead will not raise the 
dead. No. church is fit to labor in a revival that is not 
enjoying a revival. Then consecrate yourselves anew to 
God. Do not be afraid to break down and get blessed 
before the world. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


265 


465 REVIVAL, Where Begin a 

Success in the beginning of any undertaking inspires 
those engaged in it with courage. If you want a revival, 
it is best to begin where, if you do your duty, failure is im¬ 
possible. Your success will encourage yourself and others. 
There is but little doubt but that the work will spread. 

“Where,” do you ask, “shall I begin? Where I am cer¬ 
tain, if I do my part, to have a revival?” 

We answer, Begin with yourself. The obstinacy and per¬ 
verseness of others can not prevent the holy fire from 
falling upon you. “Draw nigh to God, and he will draw 
nigh to you.” Others will feel it. 

466 REVIVAL: Opportunity to be Improved 

The long evenings afford opportunity for revival and 
protracted meetings, which should be improved. If you 
have no heart for such a meeting, talk to God in your 
closet about it. Set apart a day of fasting and prayer, 
that you may know the mind of the Lord in the matter, 
and beseech him to especially baptize your soul, that you 
may feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made 
you an overseer. Then go to the homes of your member¬ 
ship and pray with them over the matter. By this time 
you will be ready to visit the unsaved in their homes, 
talk with them personally about their souls, and pray 
with them. If you succeed, you must be anointed for the 
work; and when you get the anointing you must work as 
though you had it all to do; and depend on God as though 
you were nothing, and he had it all to do. 

467 REVIVAL MEETINGS Should be Started Early 

The best time to begin revival meetings is right away 
before cold weather comes on. So, if you go back to your 
former circuit, make appointments for the first bright 
evenings and, in God’s name, begin at once to make spe¬ 
cial efforts for the salvation of souls. If you go to a new 
appointment, get settled as soon as possible, and start re¬ 
vival meetings before the interest in the new preacher 


266 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


dies out. There is no- time to be lost. Souls are perishing 
all about you. The young people will be harder to reach 
when the winter amusements begin. Get all on fire and 
you will find some place in which to kindle a fire. Get 
burdened with a love for souls, and you will find souls 
to be saved. To settle down in inactivity will deaden the 
energies of any preacher. Get thoroughly awakened, and 
you will awaken others. We want to hear of more revivals, 
and of a greater number of conversions in every revival. 
God help you! 

468 REVIVAL MEETINGS To Begin in Closet 

Do not wait for revival meetings to have a revival be¬ 
gin. Let it begin now. Have one yourself in your own 
soul. It will then spread. Fire, kindled by a live coal 
from the altar of God, catches as readily as any other. A 
very humble colored woman once, by her burning testimony 
to perfect love, set the heart of a lawyer, a dead formalist, 
on fire with love for God and love for souls. He at once 
began to labor with great zeal and power for the salvation 
of others. Thorough and permanent revivals attended his 
labors wherever he went. His labors for souls were in¬ 
cessant for over thirty years. Many thousands were 
brought to Christ in the meetings which he held. Dead 
professors, however beautiful they may be in death, can 
not bring dead souls to life. But if you get all alive you 
will bring others to life. Let the revival begin in the closet. 
It will soon reach the family altar, the prayer-meeting, and 
the public congregation. 

469 REVIVAL Begun 

If your church is cold, throwing cold water upon it will 
not warm it. Bring in a little fire. Do yourself what you 
wish others to do. Fire kindles fire. A good example is 
likely to be followed. A little blaze among smoldering 
brands will very often set them all aglow. One live person 
in a dull meeting can completely change its character. His 
promptness makes others prompt. His ardent love leads 
some to see that they have lost their first love. They say 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


267 


to themselves, “I used to feel that way myself. People 
may call him fanatical; but he is right. I am more nearly 
dead than I thought I was. I will get back to the Lord 
and get my soul blessed. I will not be in this luke-warm 
state any longer.” This was the beginning of a revival. 
He had more to confess than he supposed. But he went 
through and was powerfully blessed. Others followed. 
Several backsliders were reclaimed. In a short time sin¬ 
ners began to seek the Lord, and the good work went on 
till many were saved. 

470 REVIVAL May Be Begun Where Two Are Agreed 

To have a revival in any place it is not necessary to 
have a large number of devoted Christians to labor for 
it. Christ says, “Where two of you are agreed as touch¬ 
ing any thing which they shall ask, it shall be done for 
them of my Father which is in heaven.” These words are 
general, it is true. But there is nothing to which they 
will more properly apply than to a revival of religion. If 
you want a revival, can you not pray for one until God 
will give you some one to unite with you for it? If you 
have not a brother or a sister who will unite with you, is 
there not a backslider that you can get reclaimed, or a 
sinner you can get converted? Look up some one with 
whom you can be agreed. Simon Peter found his brother 
Andrew, and you can find some one if you try. 

471 REVIVALS: Cottage Prayer-Meetings 

We want to hear of more revivals among us. A thor¬ 
ough revival of the work of God is the great need of all 
our societies. There is not a place in the land where one 
is not needed. If the preacher is busy on another part of 
the circuit, do not wait for him to begin revival meetings. 
Let the members begin them. Hold prayer-meetings around 
from house to house. If unconverted people will open their 
houses for prayer-meetings, go there and hold them. The 
preacher may be greatly surprised, when he comes around, 
to find a revival in progress. Said a man in the love-feast 
yesterday, “I was very wicked. Several of the neighbors 


268 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


came in one evening. I said to my wife, ‘Spread the cloth 
on the table; they have come in to play cards.’ They re¬ 
plied, ‘No; we have come in to have a prayer-meeting.’ I 
was greatly taken back, but I consented. I was pleased 
with the singing. When they asked if they might come 
again, I said yes; but I really hoped they would not. They 
came, and I got to praying, and God gloriously converted 
my soul. This was some years ago, and I have been leading 
a praying life ever since. I am happy in God to-day.” 
Some of the best revivals we have ever known began, and 
were carried on, in cottage prayer-meetings. These can be 
held anywhere, and without a preacher. 

472 REVIVAL Efforts Unmixed 

“The Free Methodists in our place,” said an intelligent 
member of the M. E. church, “have done more the last six 
years to build up our church than they have to build up 
their own.” 

If in doing that they were helping souls to heaven, we 
would pass it by in silence. But when they are helping to 
put people in a church in which worldly conformity, church 
festivals, fun and frolic, and Freemasonry are fast destroy¬ 
ing every vestige of the old-fashioned Methodist piety and 
fervor, we feel free to say, that Free Methodists ought to be 
better employed. They can use their time, and talents, and 
means, to better advantage. In doing such work they are 
recreant to the trust which God has committed to them. 

How was it brought about? Not intentionally on their 
part. They lost a good degree of the life and power out of 
their own hearts. They became absorbed in politics. Parti- 
zan zeal ate out religious zeal. Then they went into union 
meetings. The preachers toned down to suit the occasion. 
They failed to do thorough w T ork for God. Superficial re¬ 
vivals resulted, and the more worldly church gathered in 
the weakly converts. 

Such preachers need to repent. God pronounces a woe 
upon them who do his work deceitfully. The truth should 
be preached with all plainness and boldness to worldly con¬ 
gregations. Those converted under our labors should be so 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


260 


thoroughly converted, and so well instructed, that formal 
churches will not want them. They should show so clearly 
in their testimonies what Christ can save a truly converted 
soul from, that their burning words would make the dull 
ears of cold professors tingle. Let us be true to our calling. 
Let us do thorough work for God. 

473 REVIVAL, Members Should Continue 

If meetings are going on successfully, they should not 
be closed because the preacher must go to another appoint¬ 
ment. That must be a superficial revival in w^hich the 
members are not so blessed that they can carry on a 
meeting without a preacher. We are living in the times 
spoken of by the Prophet: “Then they that feared the Lord 
spake often one to another” (Mai. 3:16). It was about the 
things of the kingdom that they spoke, for “the Lord 
hearkened and heard it.” It is considered an important 
meeting when a reporter for the press is present and writes 
down the proceedings. But these meetings are more im¬ 
portant, for God sent a recorder and “a book of remem¬ 
brance was written before him for them that feared the 
Lord, and that thought upon his name.” A meeting that 
interests Heaven can hardly fail to attract some attention 
on earth. Such a meeting may be held without a preacher. 

Better still, we are living in the days spoken of by 
the Prophet Joel: “And it shall come to pass afterward, 
that I will pour out my spirit upon all flesh; and your sons 
and your daughters shall prophesy, your old men shall 
dream dreams, your young men shall see visions: and also 
upon the servants and upon the handmaids in those days 
will I pour out my spirit” (Joel 2 : 28, 29). Can you not get 
along without a preacher with such a state of things? 
Generally the trouble at such times is to get along with a 
preacher. He is too liable to want to “steady the ark.” 
Hands off when God’s presence is signally manifested. Let 
the young kine move on, lowing as they go. You will not 
want for an audience—“the lords of the Philistines” will 
go after them. They will be moved by curiosity, if by 
nothing else. Let “your sons and your daughters,” upon 


270 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


whom the Spirit of God rests, prophesy. Give them the 
opportunity, and God will work through them. 

474 REVIVAL MEETINGS: Do Not Close Too Soon 

Much efficient labor is often lost by closing protracted 
meetings too soon. They are sometimes stopped just as a 
deep interest has been awakened, and before there has been 
any great ingathering of souls. This is wrong. It is a mis¬ 
taken policy. It prevents the realization of much good; and 
sometimes does positive harm. Those who were melted, but 
not saved, become harder than they were before. It is better 
not to plow up a field and sow it, unless you intend to take 
care of the crop and harvest it. It is wanton cruelty to 
take fish upon your hook, only to throw them back into the 
water. Paul, though the world was open before him and 
needing help, held on at Ephesus “by the space of three 
years.” Nor was it a resting time among old friends: for he 
says, “I ceased not to warn every one night and day with 
tears.” It was a long effort and a successful one. A strong 
church was gathered from the world and established in the 
truth. 

475 REVIVALS All the Year 

It is altogether a mistaken notion that we can have re¬ 
vivals only in the winter. Men die and are lost in the 
summer as well as in the winter. God is just as willing 
to work in one season of the year as another. The trouble 
is in our lack of faith and lack of consecration to the work. 
Preachers may have revivals in the summer if they will. 

On the last circuit we traveled we had a powerful re¬ 
vival in a farming community right on through the busy 
season of the year. The church, and wagons with hay-racks 
on, driven up to the open windows, were filled with people. 
Many were saved. It was a glorious visitation. At another 
point we kept up a grove-meeting every Sabbath afternoon 
all summer, which was attended by hundreds of people. 

Brother preacher, keep a revival spirit, and aim directly 
to get believers sanctified and sinners converted; your la¬ 
bors will not be in vain in the Lord. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


271 


476 REVIVAL Destroyed by Impatience 

The whole community was stirred, and there appeared 
to be the prospect of a great revival of religion. The meet¬ 
ings were the common topic of conversation in the stores 
and in the houses. But the people did not move as promptly 
as they should have done. Conviction was working in their 
minds, but as yet they showed no disposition to yield to it. 
Many, doubtless, would have yielded, but the evangelist who 
was holding the meetings appeared to the people to get out 
of patience, and went to abusing them. They turned against 
him, refused to go to hear any more, and the meeting which 
began with so much promise ended in a total defeat. 

Beloved, whatever takes place, keep sweet in your temper. 
However provoking others may be, let the peace of God 
reign in your heart. If others will not get religion, still 
you can live religion. Christ says, “And I, if I be lifted up, 
will draw all men unto me.” But he does not say that he 
will drive them. And it is worse than useless for us to 
attempt to. 

477 REVIVALS, Popular 

In the popular revivals some important truths are 
preached. But unpopular truths, greatly needed, are either 
passed over in silence, or only occasionally touched upon. 
“Glittering generalities” are employed where pertinent per¬ 
sonalities should be used. In general terms, people perhaps 
are told from the pulpit, that they must give up their sins, 
that they must renounce the world, but in the inquiry-room 
they are told simply to believe in Jesus; or to believe they 
are forgiven, and they are forgiven. Then they are urged 
to confess Christ; that is, to say they are converted. Then 
they join the church, and go on deceived to the end of life. 
“He that is down need fear no fall.” If they are moral and 
amiable, they pass for Christians, when they were never 
even scripturally awakened. They never lose their expe¬ 
rience, for they never had any to lose. They never back¬ 
slide, for they have nothing to backslide from. For a sin¬ 
ner to be converted, he must repent. He must make a 
humble confession of his sins. He must turn from every 


272 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


wicked way. He must come out from unbelievers and be 
separate. He must come to Christ by placing himself 
wholly at his disposal. “So likewise w T hosoever of you he 
be that forsaketh not all that he hath, he cannot be my 
disciple” (Luke 14:33). 

478 REVIVAL WORK: Superficial or Thorough? 

A Free Methodist preacher informs us that he held 
meetings several weeks last winter, and had about thirty 
sinners converted; but only two or three of them joined 
the Free Methodist church. All the rest were induced to 
unite with the M. E. church. If they would be led on to 
holiness it would not be labor thrown away. But it is dis¬ 
couraging to labor hard to get sinners converted, and then 
see them join a church which, to say the least, tacitly en¬ 
courages the young men to join an anti-Christian lodge; and 
the young women to dress like the world and mingle in 
its pleasures. It is like drawing water in a sieve. It is 
toiling to roll a stone up hill, only to see it, when near 
the top, slip from your grasp and roll back lower down 
than it was when you started it. Such results always come 
from too superficial work. Popular churches do not want 
those who are converted in the old-fashioned way, unless 
they have a good deal of money. Converts who bear their 
testimony against Freemasonry, and church festivals and 
worldly conformity, and who get shouting happy, would 
only work trouble in a worldly church. They would not be 
at home in it. 

If you would not have your converts go to popular 
churches, you must not adopt popular methods to promote 
revivals. You must preach repentance, and insist upon it. 
You must not assume that the conditions of salvation as 
laid down by Christ and the apostles have been outlawed. 
Stress must be laid on these conditions. “7/ ice confess our 
sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to 
cleanse us from all unrighteousness” (1 John 1:9). When 
people come forward for prayers let earnest and united 
prayer be made for them. Get them to pray. Do not 
be all the time talking to them. You talk to God for 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


273 


them, and let God talk to them . Sing the good old Metho¬ 
dist hymns, such as, “Show pity, Lord, O Lord, forgive,” 
and do not sing the antinomian hymns now so popular. Do 
not encourage them to think that they are converted until 
they have the witness of the Spirit that they are born 
again. Look to have them come through happy in God. 

479 REVIVAL SPIRIT Must be Maintained 

We hope that all our societies will settle down to steady 
work, but not settle down in formality. Let every member 
have a revival spirit; then you will have a revival spirit in 
all your meetings. The preacher may be cold; but unless 
he is dead, past all hope, he, too, will be revived. Every 
church ought to be a revival church, and every preacher a 
revival preacher. We prove it by the words of Christ, 
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; 
so shall ye be my disciples” (John 15:8). The fruit which 
Christians bear is the good they do to others. If we are 
doing no good, Christ tells us plainly that we are not his 
disciples. We may call ourselves such; but he disowns 
us. If we belong to him, we shall engage heartily in his 
w r ork. Let us be warned in season. “Cast ye the un¬ 
profitable servant into outer darkness.” Do you not dread 
such a doom? 

480 RICH, Gospel Not To 

From the pains especially taken by many churches to 
make their services particularly acceptable to the rich and 
the proud, one would think that the gospel was primarily 
designed to meet the tastes of these classes. But this is 
a great mistake. Christ never said to the rich, “Come unto 
me, and I will give you an opportunity to display your fine 
clothes to the best advantage. Come to my church, and I 
will see that the preaching and the singing, and all the 
services, are adapted to your culture. Nothing offensive to 
your refined tastes shall be permitted.” Quite the contrary. 
His words were such as these: “Come unto me, all ye that 
labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest” (Matt. 
11:28). “And the poor have the gospel preached to 


274 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


them” (Matt 11:5). “And blessed is he, whosoever shall 
not be offended in me” (Matt. 11: 6). 

Let us then take special pains to preach the gospel to 
the poor. Those who are willing to hear it in its purity 
and power can then listen to it if they will. A free road 
is open to the rich as well as to the poor. 

481 RICH, Oppressors of Souls 

No church can maintain its purity and its simplicity, if 
it is dependent upon the rich. In return for their money, 
they will demand concessions to their pride; and that will 
prove destructive to vital godliness. St. James asks the 
saints, “Do not rich men oppress you?” Where is there 
a single church controlled by the rich in which the saints are 
free to get blessed and praise God? 

The Old Methodists saw so clearly the danger from this 
source that they gave, as a reason for building plain and 
inexpensive churches: “Otherwise the necessity of raising 
money will make rich men necessary to us. But if so, 
we must be dependent on them, yea, and governed by them. 
And then farewell to Methodist discipline, if not doctrine, 
too.” 

Has not this farewell been uttered? What M. E. 
preacher enforces the M. E. Discipline, even as it has been 
toned down to suit the worldly inclined? 

482 RICHES 

It seems strange that any person who believes the Bible 
should join in the scramble after riches. What can be 
plainer than the words of Christ: “How hardly shall they 
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God!” Would 
any person have confidence in the sincerity of a young 
German who, expressing a great longing for the time to 
come when he could enter the army, deliberately mutilates 
himself so as to unfit him for the army? Can a man be in 
earnest to gain Heaven when he takes a course which Christ 
says will shut him out of Heaven? 

I was deeply impressed this morning in reading the ac¬ 
count of the rich man and Lazarus. It sounds like a true 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


275 


narrative. Turn to the sixteenth chapter of Luke and read 
it over carefully. Ask yourself if you are seeking to have 
your good things in this life. 

483 RICHES Dangerous 

it seems strange that men will hazard almost every¬ 
thing to obtain that which renders their eternal salvation 
extremely difficult, if not impossible. Yet they do. To ob¬ 
tain riches many do not shrink from any act of dishonesty 
that promises success. Many of the common methods of 
getting rich, when stripped of the air of respectability which 
legal sanctions and common practise throw around them, 
are no better than downright robbery. Watering the stock 
of railroads is simply lying and stealing combined. Stock 
exchanges are gambling houses thinly disguised. Yet men 
who call themselves moral and respectable, and many 
church-members, engage in these practises. Only to get 
rich! Hear what our Savior says: “How hardly shall they 
that have riches enter into the kingdom of God! For it 
is easier for a camel to go through a needle’s eye, than for 
a rich man to enter into the kingdom of God” (Luke 18: 
24, 25). These texts are not often preached from in our 
popular pulpits. Yet such was the uniform teaching of 
Christ. The salvation of the rich is extremely difficult, 
if not impossible! Think of it, before you decide to try 
to become rich. 

484 RICHES An Obstacle to Salvation 

For a man to have burglars’ or counterfeiters’ tools in 
his possession is a suspicious circumstance. To show that 
he came by them honestly does not remove the suspicion. 
He may show receipts from the men of whom he made his 
purchases, but that does not improve his standing with 
honest guardians of the law. “We are convinced that you 
bought them, but what have you bought them for?” So, 
if a rich man could show that he came by his riches honestly, 
still, in the eyes of Christ, the bare possession of them is 
strong presumptive evidence that he is an enemy of Christ 
and an alien to his kingdom. Dr. Adam Clarke says: 


276 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


“Earthly riches are a great obstacle to salvation; because 
it is. almost impossible to possess them and not to set the 
heart upon them; and they who love the world have not 
the love of the Father in them” (1 John 2:15). To be 
rich, therefore, is in general a great misfortune: but what 
rich man can be convinced of this? It is God himself who, 
by a miracle of mercy, can do this. Christ himself affirms 
the difficulty of the salvation of a rich man, with an oath* 
verily; but who of the rich either hears or believes him? 

485 RIGHTEOUS LIFE Brings Peaceful End 

If you would die the death of the righteous, you must 
live his life. Holy living makes easy dying. If you pass 
through the strait gate, and walk steadily on in the nar¬ 
row way, you need have no concern about what the end 
will be when you reach it. Your sole concern should 
be to press on steadily in the narrow way, and not allow 
yourself, by any inducements which earth can give, to be 
turned aside into the broad way of worldly conformity. 

To live the life of the righteous you must become right¬ 
eous. You must repent. You must be born of the Spirit. 
You must be sanctified by the Holy Ghost. You must walk in 
the Spirit and not fulfil the lusts of the flesh. Do this, and 
you need have no fears about dying. You will be ready for 
it when the time comes. Rivers that flow into the ocean 
reach it on a level with it, no matter from what high grounds 
they may come. Their waters run into the ocean and the 
waters of the ocean run into them. So if your life is going 
out towards God, his life will come into yours and you will 
become more and more like him, until at last you are swal¬ 
lowed up in the ocean of infinite love. 

486 RIGHTEOUSNESS, National 

Righteousness exalteth a nation, hut sin is a reproach to 
any people ” (Prov. 14:34). The mightiest nations of an¬ 
tiquity, one after another, fell from their own corruptions. 
While they had moral strength within, they were proof 
against all external enemies. In her best days Rome dis¬ 
pensed justice through all her dominions. The principles 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


277 


of jurisprudence which her jurists laid down are still ac¬ 
knowledged as binding by all civilized nations. But when 
her people became rich, and voluptuous, and rapacious, her 
decay began. Public offices were bought; and Gibbon says 
the crown itself was sold by the Pretorian guard at public 
auction. He became emperor who offered the highest price 
for the honor. (See Gibbon’s Rome, 1:127). The spirit of 
venality prevailed at last to such an extent that the same 
historian says: “The Romans would demolish with their 
own hands the arches and walls, if the hope of profit could 
surpass the cost of the labor and exportation” (Same, 
6 : 526). 

If the American republic is to stand, an end must be 
put to the practise of carrying elections by money. He 
who buys or sells a vote should be branded as a traitor, and 
be rendered incapable afterward of casting a ballot or hold¬ 
ing an office. 

487 ROMAN CATHOLICS: Jesuits 

The Jesuits have been banished from every Roman Ca¬ 
tholic country in Europe. They are thought the least of 
where they are known best. Those whom they serve are 
afraid of them. They were organized to uphold the Pope. 
They succeeded in stopping the progress of the Reformation 
begun by Luther. They have planted Romanism in every 
quarter of the globe. Their equals for devotion to the cause 
they have espoused can not be found. Their self-denial, 
their fearlessness in the face of danger, their persistency in 
carrying out what they undertake, their ready obedience 
to those in authority over them, their life-long consecration 
of every energy of body and mind, are wholly without a 
parallel. But they are so intriguing, so unscrulous in their 
methods, and the standard of morality which they incul¬ 
cate and practise is so low and elastic, that every Roman 
Catholic Government in the world is afraid of them, and 
closes its doors against them. This country is the paradise 
of the Jesuits. Here they can practise their dangerous arts 
unmolested. They work in secret. Without opposition in 
‘politics, they form a potential factor in important political 


278 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


movements. They are now making a persistent effort to 
obtain control of the judiciary of this country. They are 
succeeding to quite an extent. Roman Catholic magis¬ 
trates and policemen in many of our cities, where they dare 
to interfere, lay an iron hand on any unusual effort on the 
part of Protestants to reach the low”, degraded masses, com¬ 
posed generally of atheists, socialists and Roman Catholics. 
There is little doubt but that the Pope has greater political 
influence in Chicago and in New York than he has in Rome. 

488 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH Aggressive 

The disposition manifested by our Government to bestow 
special favors upon the Roman Catholic church ought to 
arouse the country to a determined opposition to all such 
measures. 

The Presbyterian Observer, of Baltimore, says: “The In¬ 
dian schools receiving governmental aid are passing rapidly 
under the control of Roman Catholics. Just think of it! 
Four-fifths of them are under the direction of papists, 
while only one-fifth are under the care of Protestants of 
all denominations. How is this to be accounted for? What 
does it mean? Is Rome better qualified for the work, or is 
it designed to favor Romanism and secure its support po¬ 
litically? Protestants should watch Romish influence in 
this and other directions.” 

The tread of the Jesuit is as noiseless as the approach 
of a serpent. He lays his plans and works in secret until 
he gets his victim within his embrace, and then there is 
no escape. Let this country fall under the control of the 
Jesuits, and it will soon fall into the decay common to all 
Roman Catholic countries. We should guard against the 
evil while it may be prevented. 

• 

489 ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and Property 

A large amount of the property of the country is fast 
passing into the hand of priests who acknowledge supreme 
allegiance to the Pope of Rome. In Brooklyn, New York, 
a few years ago, they obtained, by getting a rich bachelor 
to make his will in their favor, and allowing no one else 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


279 


to have access to him till he died, possession of nearly a 
block of property, now worth millions. In the town in 
which we live they own a good farm which was given to 
them. They have both these pieces of property so fixed 
that they are exempt from taxation. The same thing is 
going on quietly all over the country. 

In France, in the days of Cardinal Richelieu, the Romish 
priests, according to the historian Guizot, “possessed more 
than a quarter of the property of France.” For this prop¬ 
erty they claimed exemption from taxation. Richelieu was 
the controlling spirit in the government in the reign of 
Louis XIII. He levied a tax at one time upon this property 
of eighty million livres. 

In no papal country in the world are Romish priests al¬ 
lowed to go on untrammeled in absorbing the wealth of the 
people, as they are in this country. 

490 ROMANISM, Aggressions of 

The aggressions of Romanism are steady, insidious, per¬ 
sistent, and well directed. They aim at one object—to 
obtain control of the civil power of this country. Already, 
in many of our cities, religious liberty is circumscribed 
through its influence. Brass bands are permitted to head 
noisy processions on the streets, and even on the Sabbath; 
but a few followers, marching and singing the songs of 
Zion, are arrested and sent to jail. Romanists should have 
the same rights as Protestants, but no more. We are in 
favor of religious liberty to its fullest extent; but we ob¬ 
ject to having religious liberty construed to mean only the 
liberty to do as the Pope directs. In Boston, the Rev. Mr. 
Davis, a minister of high standing, is sent to jail for a 
year, for the crime of preaching the gospel on Boston Com¬ 
mon ! And yet the country does not rise up and demand his 
release! 

491 ROMANISM and Free Institutions 

The American people can not afford to tolerate Jesuitism. 
It is a deadly foe to free institutions. The Jesuits have 
proved themselves so dangerous that they were once ban- 


280 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


ished from the leading Roman Catholic countries of Eu¬ 
rope. 

Joseph Cook says: 

“America is young and strong. She is a child in gay, 
overflowing health, rushing forward in full sunlight through 
lush, rank growths and vernal meadows. Jesuitism is a 
snake in the grass. The viper fastens itself almost un¬ 
noticed around her ankles as she runs. It already sinks 
its fangs into the veins of journalism, and into those of 
education, and into the great central artery of politics. 
The racing child in her eagerness and vigor as yet hardly 
feels the wounds. But the poison will tell in due time. 
When once the health of the republic begins seriously to 
suffer, the head of the serpent will be crushed beneath the 
heel of public opinion. The safety of men is inconsistent 
with the freedom of vipers. The plea for toleration is to 
be answered in presence of a full exposure of the purposes 
of Jesuit aggression. When the Syllabus lies behind the 
Roman Catholic propaganda, the right of self-preservation 
lies in front of it. 

“No Protestant American desires a union of church and 
state, or asks for himself in church or school any privilege 
he is not willing to grant to any other loyal citizen. But 
the safety of the people is the supreme law. A free school, 
a free church, and a free state are the three supports of the 
tripod on which rests the whole weight of American pros¬ 
perity. Strike away either of these three and you cause 
the whole to fall. It is undeniable that the entire force of 
the Romish hierarchy is now pledged to the destruction of 
the first of these supports. The arm of the Vatican is 
lifted to destroy the American common-school system.” 

Our public schools must be defended at all hazards. No 
one should be admitted to citizenship who does not renounce 
all allegiance to all foreign powers. 

492 ROMANISM and the Public Schools 

“Father Chapelle” asks, “Is there not a flagrant con¬ 
tradiction in the conduct of men who band together to 
direct evangelical influences to bear upon our people, and 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


281 


who thoroughly and most inconsistently proclaim that the 
teaching of the gospel shall be banished from the schools?” 
We reply: There is. Such a course is inconsistent. It 
ought to bring the blush of shame to the cheeks of every 
Protestant. But liow came the Bible to be put out of our 
common schools? It was by an outcry made against it by 
the Romish priests. The infidels joined in the outcry; and 
the politicians, to gain their votes, voted the Bible out. 
But the priests are as clamorous as ever, only now they raise 
the cry that our common schools are godless schools. But 
they made them so. And this is only a specimen of what 
they will do if they gain the power. 

493 ROOTS OF BITTERNESS 

It is a great thing to get saved: it is much greater to 
keep saved. Many lose communion with God by compro¬ 
mising with sin; many more by losing their love, and be¬ 
coming harsh and uncharitable. In the same breath in 
which we are commanded to “follow holiness, without which 
no man shall see the Lord,” we are charged to look “dili¬ 
gently, lest any root of bitterness springing up trouble you, 
and thereby many be defiled” (Heb. 12:15). 

These “roots of bitterness” are troublesome things. What 
trouble they make in the conference, and in the church, 
especially if there is a strong, leading spirit nourished by 
the root! There is almost no end to the mischief it can 
make. It brings in a spirit of division. It instigates to 
church trials, it stirs up a hasty spirit; it breaks up so¬ 
cieties and ruins souls. As alcohol, the bane of our race, 
is extracted from grain from which the bread of our race 
is made, so this “root of bitterness” is a perversion of holi¬ 
ness without which no one can be saved. To discern it one 
must look diligently. Much that passes for the fruit of 
holiness grows upon this root of bitterness. It produces 
many sermons, and exhortations, and articles for the pa¬ 
pers, which claim to be inspired by the Holy Spirit. From 
knowing that what goes into a building is suitable for food, 
you can not decide that what comes out is good to nourish 
human beings. The grain may come out flour for bread, or 


282 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


it may come out liquid hell-fire. It depends upon whether 
there is a mill or a still inside. So what one gets out of 
a text depends upon what there is in the heart. If there 
is love, the severest words will be seasoned with tenderness. 
They may be sharper than a two-edged sword; but to the 
honest soul that is wounded, there comes the oil of joy 
for mourning. 

But if, instead of love, there is within the root of bitter¬ 
ness, the words will drive rather than draw; the arrow 
may be well aimed, but it will leave a poisoned wound 
which refuses to be healed. Those who come under the 
influence of this root of bitterness become less kind, less 
amiable, than they were before they professed holiness. 
Those who live in love may stir up enmity, but their 
enemies are drawn to them in spite of themselves. 

It is not enough that we are zealous, and our zeal is 
successful in making converts. What is the character of 
our converts? Are they filled with that love of God which 
leads them to keep his commandments? “For this is the love 
of God, that we keep his commandments: and his com¬ 
mandments are not grievous” (1 John 5:3). Or, on the 
contrary, are they conformed to this world? If not, if they 
are simple and plain, are they bitter in their spirit, and 
denunciatory in their tone? 

Christ said of the Pharisees, “Ye compass sea and land 
to make one proselyte, and when he is made, ye make him 
twofold more the child of hell than yourselves” (Matt. 23: 
15). We must see to it that we are not of that sort, and 
that our converts are not of that sort. Zeal and success in 
making converts, and in getting them into the church, are 
not evidence that those who have the zeal and meet with 
the success are the children of God. The church and the 
world greatly need those who can and will do true work 
for God. Many who seem willing to do it are not in a 
spiritual condition to do it. They are either too com¬ 
plaisant, or too bitter. Their converts are either baptized 
worldlings or self-complacent bigots. 

Who will have true charity and will do faithful work 
for God? 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


283 


494 RULE OR RUIN SPIRIT Unchristlike 

We are struck with the reproof that Christ gave his 
disciples, when some of them wished to have authority 
over the others. “Ye know that they which are accounted 
to rule over the Gentiles exercise lordship over them; and 
their great ones exercise authority upon them. But so it 
shall not be among you: but whosoever will be great among 
you, shall be your minister [or servant] : and whosoever 
of you shall be the chiefest, shall be servant of all” (Mark 
10:42-44). He gives as a reason, his own example: “For 
even the Son of Man came not to be ministered unto, but 
to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many.” God 
“hath set governments” in the church (1 Cor. 12:28). But 
it does not follow that every man who wants to govern, is 
called of God to govern. If one puts himself forward to 
govern it is, as a rule, presumptive evidence that God does 
not eall him to be a ruler. When God called David, it was 
through the prophet Samuel; and the people indorsed the 
call. Absalom called himself; and, though he secured many 
followers, he came to an untimely end. The spirit of “rule 
or ruin” is utterly opposed to the Spirit of Christ. If one 
must leave the church because he is not put into office, he is 
not fit for office. The love of power is as contrary to the 
Spirit of Christ as the love of dress or the love of money. 
One may be dead to everything else, but if he finds in him¬ 
self a disposition to rally around his banner as many fol¬ 
lowers as he can, with whom his word is law, and over whom 
he exercises absolute authority, he has a right to conclude 
that he is not dead to sin. Self is still alive to a dangerous 
degree. “Only make me king to-day,” said a Mohammedan 
prinoe, “and you may kill me to-morrow.” But a true dis¬ 
ciple of Christ does not want a kingdom of this world. 

495 SABBATH, The 

The Sabbatarians, by their positive assertions, and their 
long array of Scripture quotations, succeed in disturbing 
some honest souls. But do not be disturbed. Their proofs 
will not bear examination. We say this, because we have 
examined them with all fairness and candor. We have 


284 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


never seen a single text that says, God commanded men to 
keep as Sabbath the seventh day of the week. They add 
of the week to God’s commands. We have never seen any 
good authority to prove what they so confidently assert, 
that Constantine or the Roman Catholic church changed the 
Sabbath day from the seventh to the first day of the week. 
If they ever made any such change there ought to be an 
authentic record of it. We have never seen any. Let it 
be produced. Give us not assertions. They are easily made. 
Show us records. 

496 SABBATH To Be Valued 

It is the duty of a Christian to conscientiously observe 
the Sabbath. It is the day which God has specially set 
apart for .himself. His requirement is, “In it thou shalt 
not do any work.” Ordinary labor is to be suspended on 
this holy day. 

To keep it properly, we must make preparation on the 
day preceding. We should do on Saturday all that we can 
for our comfort on the Sabbath. Instead of working later 
than usual on Saturday night, we should quit work earlier 
than usual, in order to get our minds and our worldly mat¬ 
ters ready for the Sabbath. To sit up late on Saturday night 
is likely to be followed by getting up late on Sunday morn¬ 
ing, being late to church and, in the end, too often, in back¬ 
sliding from God. It was very early on Sunday morning 
that the women of Galilee met the angels and learned from 
them that Jesus w T as risen from the dead. 

If you would get much out of your religion, you must 
make much of the Sabbath. 

497 SABBATH, Preservation of the 

Working men are specially interested in the preservation 
of the Sabbath. Let it be turned into a day of recreation, 
and it will soon become a day of labor. The money kings 
will say, “These people tire themselves more by their Sun¬ 
day amusements than they would by work; therefore, they 
might better be kept at work.” We have called attention 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


285 


to the fact that on the continent of Europe this result has 
been realized to a large extent. Large numbers of working 
people have no day of rest. 

The Sunday excursions and baseball games, common in 
this country, will have the same effect. Already it is be¬ 
ginning to be realized. A contemporary says: 

“Sunday labor has been greatly increased during the past 
few years. In the city of New York alone there are fully 
one hundred thousand men and women who work every 
Sunday at their trades or vocations. A religious organiza¬ 
tion there is trying to prevent the growth of this encroach¬ 
ment upon the day of rest.” 

If the people will not have a Christian Sabbath they 
will soon have no Sabbath. 

498 SABBATH: Not to be Secularized 

The American Germans are making a great mistake in 
trying to secularize our American Sabbaths. They may 
have the assistance of the railroads, and of some of the 
capitalists, in turning the Sabbath into a day of pleasure, 
of riding and drinking and revelry; but when that is ef¬ 
fected they may expect that the same result will follow 
here as is being realized in Germany—the Sabbath will be 
turned into a day of labor; and the toilers will be com¬ 
pelled to toil on seven days in the week. The German gov¬ 
ernment, in a recent report on Sunday labor, shows that 
factory work is becoming the rule in Germany. Sabbath 
labor is more general in some parts of the empire than in 
others; but there is a decided tendency to do away with the 
practise of regarding the Sabbath as a day of rest from 
labor. If we do not have the Christian Sabbath, we shall 
have no more Sabbath than they have on the continent of 
Europe. The greed of gain in most of those who employ 
labor, will soon make it clear that it is no worse for the 
laborer in the mill than it is to play ball, and get drunk, 
and have fights, on the Sabbath. All are interested, whether 
they know it or not, in the preservation of the Sabbath, 
but none more so than the working man. 


286 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


499 SABBATH! Worldly Conversation Not to. be Indulged 

We must not indulge in worldly conversation on the 
Sabbath, if we would keep it properly. “Out of the abun¬ 
dance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” Worldly talk on 
the Sabbath is not only an indication of a lack of grace, but 
it opens a leakage of the soul through which what grace one 
has may easily slip away. Do not allow yourself to talk 
about worldly business on God’s holy day. Be decided in 
this matter. Your friends, your children, your employers 
or your employes will draw you into it if you permit them. 
Follow God’s direction and do not seek your own pleasure, 
nor speak your own words, on the Lord’s Day. Let your 
conversation be in Heaven—about Heavenly things. Lay 
aside worldly cares and worldly talk, and seek to minister 
grace to others and to have others minister grace to you. 
Then the Sabbath will be to you a delight, and God will 
cause you to ride upon the high places of the earth. 

500 SABBATH AMUSEMENT 

The working classes are making a great mistake by turn¬ 
ing the Sabbath into a day of public amusement. If they 
keep on they will repent when it is too late. They have 
the deepest interest in the preservation of, the Christian 
Sabbath as a day sacred to the worship of God, from whom 
came all our blessings. The New York Journal of Com¬ 
merce, a leading secular paper, says: 

“The moment all serious regard for the hours of rest, 
as sacred time, is lost, the greed of man comes behind the 
laborer with its lash, and in spite of laws forbidding work 
the factory and the mill are open, and the workmen must 
respond or quit the service. Let this fact be impressed 
on the mind of every man who asks for more of license 
on the first day of the week. A Sunday which has no 
sacred hours will very soon have no interval of peaceful 
rest. Open the day for unrestricted fun and frolic, and it 
will soon be open for exacting toil.” 

The men who get up Sabbath excursions for the labor¬ 
ing classes, and set before them beer and whisky, are their 
greatest enemies. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


287 


501 SABBATH, Seventh Day 

The keeping of Saturday for Sabbath has always resulted 
in a failure, whenever it has been tried for any length of 
time. A large colony of Seventh-day Baptists settled in 
the town in which I spent my boyhood. They were a godly, 
intelligent peopie, free from fanatical notions. They had 
a flourishing church. Their ministers were pious, educated 
men. But they have all run out. Their children learned 
from their parents to work and play on Sunday, and from 
their neighbors to do the same on Saturday, and now it 
is a godless, wicked neighborhood. The Seventh-day Bap¬ 
tists began their work in this country over two hundred 
years ago. They were able, zealous, sincere men; but the 
blessing of God has not rested upon their labors. Their 
increase has been less than the natural increase of their 
families. They have fought vigorously, but they have been 
fighting against God. 

502 SAINTS “Approved of Men” 

What the Apostle says about true saints being “approved 
of men” is deserving of serious consideration. He does not 
mean that they will be popular, in the common acceptation 
of that word; very far from it. On the contrary, he taught, 
“Yea, and all that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall 
suffer persecution.” But the very ones that persecute come at 
last to approve, and often to love and fellowship, those whom 
they persecute. Constancy in suffering, and sweetness of 
temper, and holy triumph in agonies extreme, manifested 
by his victims, have brought many a persecutor to his 
knees, beseeching God to bestow upon him this great sal¬ 
vation. In religious matters natural men are slow to adopt 
what they approve, and swift to practise what they con¬ 
demn. But however men oppose us, we should always aim 
to keep their consciences on our side. In the long run, 
conscience is pretty apt to wear out prejudice. Not infre¬ 
quently will men talk against the saints, and turn around 
and defend them when others do the same. A godly life 
stirs up opposition, but it at the same time challenges 
admiration for its consistency. 


288 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


C03 SAINTS Persevere in Adversity 

He who will be a saint only when everything is pros¬ 
perous, is no saint at all. A fish goes against the current 
only when the fish is alive. The dead ones are washed 
ashore. Paul, when in prison, wrote, “This thou knowest, 
that all they which are in Asia be turned away from me”; 
but his faith never wavered on that account. 

604 SAINTS, Overfed 

Though one must eat, if he would be able to work, yet if 
he eats all the while he will soon be unable to work. Over¬ 
feeding is as dangerous as underfeeding. Ordinarily more 
persons die of dyspepsia and apoplexy than of starvation. 

The trouble with some of our pilgrims is, they do not 
work enough in proportion to the amount of spiritual food 
they take. Their appetite is good. They relish strong 
meat. But they do not work enough to keep their di¬ 
gestion good. They would be strong if they had more 
exercise in God’s great harvest-field. As it is, instead of 
bringing in sheaves they are complaining. They flounce 
about paroxysmally, and tread down the grain that they 
should reap. They offend needlessly those whom they 
should bring to Christ. If they would visit them and talk 
with them face to face, they would be tender and sympa¬ 
thetic, and use persuasion where they now use denunciation. 
They are puffed up and die of spiritual pride, or they be¬ 
come mere fault-finders, and in trying to kill others kill 
themselves. Our only safety is to “work out our sal¬ 
vation” as “God works in us to will and to do of his good 
pleasure.” 

505 SALOONS Should be Suppressed 

The experience of every community shows that the sale 
of intoxicating liquor leads to drunkenness. To this there 
are no exceptions. Wherever there is a saloon, there are 
drunkards among its customers. This is so everywhere. 
Saloons make drunkards, just as schools make scholars. 
Every glass of intoxicating liquor which a person drinks is 
one step on towards making him a drunkard, just as every 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


289 


lesson which a child learns goes a little ways towards 
making him a scholar. Saloons are schools of crime, nurser¬ 
ies of poverty and degradation. They teach nothing good; 
their whole influence is hurtful to society. Therefore so¬ 
ciety has the right to suppress them. It has no right to 
tolerate them. Men have no natural right to keep a saloon. 
Laws prohibiting the sale of intoxicating liquors, as a bev¬ 
erage, no more interfere with one’s natural rights than do 
laws prohibiting stealing. Then saloons should be sup¬ 
pressed. The sale of intoxicating liquors as a beverage 
should be utterly prohibited. 

The saloon is of foreign origin. It is not an American 
institution. We remember when there were no saloons 
in the country. They were brought here by the criminals 
and socialists and anarchists of the old world. The great 
majority of saloon-keepers are foreigners; and many of 
them are ex-convicts. They are the natural enemies of our 
free institutions. They corrupt our politics. They put into 
office, to make and execute our laws, ignorant men, law¬ 
breakers, dissolute, unprincipled men. If they keep on grow¬ 
ing in influence, they will land us in despotism. A nation 
of drunkards can not long remain a free nation. Our old 
taverns were bad enough. The saloons are a thousandfold 
worse. They are an unmitigated curse. Patriotism, no less 
than philanthropy, requires that the saloon should be sup¬ 
pressed. 

506 SALOONS, Society Has the Right to Suppress 

Liberty is not license. The welfare of society demands 
that a man must exercise his natural rights so as not to 
interfere with the natural rights of others. A man living 
entirely alone commits a crime only against himself when 
he gets drunk. But if he is in a family, or in society, he 
commits a crime against the family or against society when 
he gets drunk. He makes himself a nuisance. He places 
himself in a position in which he is unable to contribute 
his proportion to the support of the family and the welfare 
of society. He becomes an unnecessary care and burden 
to others. While in a state of intoxication, he loses, to a 


290 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


great extent, the control over himself. His reason is un¬ 
balanced, his moral sensibilities are blunted, and he is 
liable to commit the greatest crimes against his best friends. 

Therefore, in society no man has a right to get drunk. 
Society has the right not only to punish him for getting 
drunk, but to exercise all necessary precautions to prevent 
any person from getting drunk. Therefore it has the right 
to suppress saloons. 

507 SALOON: Headquarters of Anarchy 

The American people should wake up to the fact that 
we are rapidly verging on a state of anarchy. The stand¬ 
ing argument against prohibition is, that it can not be en¬ 
forced. What is this but an acknowledgement that whisky 
and beer are stronger than the law? that the real seat of 
our government is the saloon, and not the State-house? And 
everywhere the saloon is the headquarters of anarchy. 

Every true patriot should say the law prohibiting or re¬ 
straining liquor-selling and gambling must be enforced. Of¬ 
ficials whose duty it is to enforce it, should be exhorted to 
do their duty; and be supported while attempting to do it. 
If they neglect to do it honestly and bravely, they should 
be made to give place to better men. Christians should 
make it a matter of conscience to do their part toward se¬ 
curing good laws and a vigorous enforcement of them. The 
church should be as active as the saloon in selecting candi¬ 
dates for office and in securing their election. The ungodly 
should not be allowed to enthrone ungodliness without 
opposition or protest. Our deeds should say with our words, 
“Thy kingdom come.” 

508 SALOON Should be Outlawed 

No other crime is more easy of detection than that of 
selling liquor to drink. The victims of the saloon-keeper, 
as soon as they set foot on the street, tell by their appear¬ 
ance, and by their talk, what has been done to them. To 
suppress liquor-selling it needs a strong law against it, and 
earnest men to enforce it. For men who give their support 
to saloons to profess to be Christians is a disgrace to Chris- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


291 


tianity. A merchant who sends rum to Africa, may be a 
liberal church-member, but he is as probable a candidate for 
hell-fire as the country affords. 

Because men can not be made honest by law, is as good 
a reason for licensing stealing as is the one so often urged, 
that because men can not be made temperate by law, there¬ 
fore saloons should be licensed. 

509 SALOONS: Murder Mills 

As murder-mills, the saloons of this country are a 
marked success. Many persons are killed with revolvers, 
some with dynamite, some with poison, but strong drink 
kills more than all other violent means combined. It kills 
a large proportion of those who use it; and they, before 
their death, when under its influence, not infrequently kill 
others. The saloon-keepers themselves at last become its 
victims. Other poisons kill the body, but strong drink 
kills the soul. In other forms of murder and robbery, usu¬ 
ally only money and other valuables are taken. One who 
is murdered by strong drink is frequently robbed of char¬ 
acter, of houses and lands, and cattle, and clothes, and all 
that he possesses. Let the Murder Mills be closed. 

510 SALOONS: Kept By Convicts as Punishment 

The keeping of saloons by convicts appears to have been 
of very ancient origin. Rameses III. reigned over Egypt 
about 1200 years before Christ. Towards the last of his 
reign a conspiracy was formed against him. It being dis¬ 
covered, the chief conspirators were put to death. Some 
ladies of the court, knowing of the conspiracy, but not 
making it known, were condemned “to the penal servitude 
of keeping a beer-house.” So says Rawlinson in the “His¬ 
tory of Ancient Egypt.” 

Our advance in civilization in this respect has been de¬ 
cidedly backward. It is true that many of the keepers of 
our beer-houses are criminals and ex-convicts, but they are 
licensed to do it as a privilege, instead of being condemned 
to do it as a punishment. The old Egyptian idea was the 


292 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


more nearly correct. It is well to degrade tlie business of 
beer-selling: it is better not to tolerate it. 

511 SALOON, Woe For Those Who Vote to Legalize the 

The business of drunkard-making is the business of hell 
itself. It is worse than ordinary theft; for he who steals 
another’s money leaves him free to earn more money. But 
he who gets a man’s money for strong drink, unfits him 
for his business, whatever it may be. He may be a skilful 
mechanic—but jobs become more difficult to obtain—for a 
drunkard can not be depended upon. Who will employ 
a drunken surgeon, or a drunken lawyer? Poverty and 
crime are the legitimate fruit of the saloon. It is no 
wonder that God pronounces a woe upon all who are re¬ 
sponsible for the business. “Woe unto him that giveth 
his neighbour drink, that puttest thy bottle to him, and 
makest him drunken also, that thou mayest look on their 
nakedness !” (Hab. 2:15). 

Legislatures which legalize the traffic in strong drink, 
that means you! Citizens, who vote for license, high or 
low, that means you ! God's woe is upon all who counte¬ 
nance the business, and there is no escaping it but by re¬ 
pentance and reformation. 

512 SALOON, The, Must Die 

The saloon stands out convicted before the world, as a 
deliberate murderer. No one is safe who stands in its 
way. Let the verdict of every right-minded man and wom¬ 
an be, the saloon must die. It has no claim for forbearance. 
Its hands are red with innocent blood. If in any community 
we have not officers who will put down the saloons, let us 
elect officers who will. Let our most determined, intelligent 
efforts be directed to the utter extermination from the face 
of our country of the saloon. 

513 SALOON-KEEPERS: Oppressors 

The great oppressors of the wage-workers of this coun¬ 
try are the saloon-keepers. Let a new factory be started, 
and saloons are opened near it. The fewer hours that 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


293 


drinking men work, and the greater wages they receive, 
the more time and money they have to spend at the saloon. 
No matter what wages men get, if the saloon and the 
lodge come between them and their families, their families 
will suffer. The monopolists to be dreaded are the men 
who have a monopoly of selling beer and whisky. The 
strikes that are so common in the cities are wicked and 
senseless. Wages now are far above the cost of living. 
The really oppressed class are the farmers. It takes about 
five bushels of wheat to pay for a good pair of shoes. The 
men who run the machines by which shoes are made do not 
equal the average farmer in intelligence and skill. Yet 
each of these men turns out several pairs of shoes a day. 
The oppressions of the lodge are felt in all quarters by 
all the people. Let the children of God stand free; and 
at the same time use what influence they can to secure 
liberty of conscience and of action for all classes and con¬ 
ditions of society. 

514 SALOON-KEEPERS Versus Preachers 

The saloon-keepers are the natural enemies of the preach¬ 
ers. Preachers try to save men; saloon-keepers lead them 
to hell. Preachers dissuade men from crime; four-fifths 
of the crimes against persons are caused by the saloon¬ 
keepers. Preachers influence bad men to become good; sa¬ 
loon-keepers make good men bad. The pulpit is counter¬ 
acted by the bar. The efforts of the preachers to lift men 
up are neutralized by the efforts of saloon-keepers to drag 
men down. Therefore, preachers, whatever they may dis¬ 
agree about, should make common cause against the busi¬ 
ness of saloon-keepers. The great crime of liquor-selling 
is their calling. It is so bad that it can not be reformed. 
It is a business which no one can follow, under any cir¬ 
cumstances, and be a Christian. 

Then let Christian ministers and Christian people unite 
in putting down this nefarious traffic. Let no opportunity 
to banish it from any community be lost. Let the most 
feasible and the most vigorous effort be made to utterly 
exterminate this horrible business from the land. 


294 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


515 SALVATION: By Grace 

We are saved by grace, and not by any works of our own. 
If we are able to do any good works, this ability is of 
grace. The inclination to do good is from above; for it is 
God that worketh in us to will that which is right. The 
ability to carry out what he has inspired us to attempt 
is also of him; for he worketh in us to do his good pleasure 
(Phil. 2:13). 

Bishop Hamline was one of the most godly ministers in 
the M. E. church. At every conference he attended he 
stirred up the preachers to seek holiness, to live it and enjoy 
it. But his whole trust was in the mercy of God. Towards 
the close of his life he wrote: “My sense of unworthiness is 
so great, and the fact that Christ died for me is so assured, 
that no words which I can use seem to come up to the 
earnestness and ardor of my experience. ‘Chief of sinners!’ 
‘Jesus died for me!’ Let these be ever written on my inmost 
heart. And oh, to think that he who died for me should re¬ 
new me, and rekindle the flame of divine love in me, when it 
had burned low and had sometimes been well-nigh quenched! 
In my own merit I deserve nothing but perdition, but I 
trust in Christ, and he saves me. I feel that he saves me. 
I am saved! I know I am saved! I never saw more of the 
glories of redemption than I have seen to-day, never at any 
period of my life.” 

516 SALVATION Requires Earnest Effort 

It seems incredible that any one who believes in Jesus 
can believe in Universalism. One asked him the question, 
“Lord, are there few that be saved?” His answer was di¬ 
rect and to the point: “Strive to enter in at the strait gate; 
for many, I say unto you, will seek to enter in, and shall 
not be able” (Luke 13:24). This plainly teaches that not 
only few are saved, but that many who seek salvation will 
fail to reach Heaven because they are not sufficiently in 
earnest. They seek, but do not strive. Their efforts are too 
feeble and too spasmodic. 

Strive! What power is in this word! It is like the 
bugle’s blast calling to battle. It summons to desperate con- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


295 


flicts with self and Satan, with rooted wrongs and fortified 
errors. It bids us work out our own salvation with fear 
and trembling. 

“Not on beds of down, 

Or under shade of canopy reposing, 

Eternal life is won.” 

517 SALVATION: The Rich May Be Saved 

There are great obstacles in the way of the salvation 
of any person. We must all fight if we would reign. It 
requires earnest effort to take the kingdom of God. But 
there are special difficulties in the way of the salvation of 
the rich. They love to have their own way. It comes very 
hard for them to submit to God. Our Savior says, “How 
hardly shall they that have riches enter into the kingdom of 
God !” (Mark 10:23). Still they may be saved. There is a 
possibility of it, for Paul writes, “Charge them that are rich 
in this world, that they be not highminded, nor trust in uncer¬ 
tain riches, but in the living God” (1 Tim. 6:17). This im¬ 
plies that they may be saved. The Free Methodist church, 
while it is especially adapted to the poor, also affords the 
best opportunities for the salvation of the rich. By requiring 
all its members to dress plainly, it does not give encourage¬ 
ment to pride. By having all the seats in all its places of 
worship free, it does not nourish a moneyed aristocracy. 
In every meeting it gives a practical lesson on the essential 
brotherhood of mankind. “The rich and poor meet to¬ 
gether: the Lord is the maker of them all” (Prov. 17:2). 
For the salvation of all classes—especially of the rich— 
free churches afford the best possible facilities. Judge Mc¬ 
Lean, of the United States Supreme Court, was one of our 
most prominent public men in his day. It was said that 
he would never attend a church which rented or sold its 
seats, except upon a funeral occasion. 

518 SANCTIFICATION Through the Truth 

There is a great depth of meaning in the prayer of 
Christ for his disciples: “Sanctify them through thy truth” 
(John 17:17). They had already been converted and were 


296 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


kept; but they needed to be sanctified. This was to be 
done through the truth. Error does not make its votaries 
holy. Its tendency is to lead those who embrace it to yield 
to wrong affections and bad tempers, and so become guilty 
of vicious conduct. 

But there is a sanctifying power in truth. No one can 
open his heart to any truth without being made better by it. 

“Stronger than steel 
Is the sword of the Spirit; 

Swifter than arrows 
The light of the truth is; 

Greater than anger 
Is love that subdueth.” 

He who would be sanctified wholly must love truth su¬ 
premely. He must be loyal to it in all liis words and actions. 
This ma: cost us much, but the results will compensate for 
all it costs. “Buy the truth, and sell it not.” 

519 SANCTIFICATION Must be Preached 

Our preachers, if they would succeed in their work, 
must preach entire sanctification. They must preach it 
clearly, distinctly, definitely. On this subject the gospel 
trumpet must give no uncertain sound. Francis Asbury 
did more than any other man to plant Methodism on this 
continent. He said he felt divinely called to preach holi¬ 
ness in every sermon. Yet, one time when he was taken 
sick, he wrote: “I have found b> secret search, that I 
have not preached sanctification as I should have done; 
if I am restored, this shall be my theme more pointedly 
than ever, God being my helper.” 

Brother, do you preach entire sanctification as you 
should? Do your people get sanctified wholly? Do you 
live so that you can preach sanctification from a present 
experience? 

520 SATAN Hates Real Manifestations of the Holy Ghost 

It is a cunning trick of Satan to brand with odious 
names those who walk in the Spirit. Nothing excites the 
wrath of the devil like a real manifestation of the Holy 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


297 


Ghost. He stirs up his servants, especially those who be¬ 
long to the church, to heap contempt upon those who give 
themselves up to be led by the Spirit. They are branded 
as fools and fanatics by those who do not know what fa¬ 
naticism is. True fanaticism is very unlike the spirit of 
humble love which those always manifest who are filled 
with the Holy Spirit. 

521 SATAN Imposes Crosses 

The disciple of Christ must deny himself and take up 
his cross daily. But just here he needs to be on his guard. 
When Satan finds that he can not any longer prevent you 
from taking the cross, then he changes his tactics and 
makes crosses for you. He gives as the reason for doing 
anything, that it is a cross. This is Satan’s logic. If there 
is no better reason for doing anything than that it is a 
cross, then let it alone. Because it seems hard to you to 
do anything, it does not follow that you must do it. A 
deluded man, Freeman, of Northern New York, thought 
that he must do something that Satan made a test of his 
fidelity to God, and so he killed the child on whom his 
heart was set, and offered her, as he said, “a sacrifice to 
God.” The devil lays crosses on those who will take them. 
Do not touch them. We give you two marks by which you 
may distinguish the cross of Christ from the crosses which 
Satan imposes: 

1. The cross of Christ is always in harmony with the 
general teaching of the Scriptures. Satan often backs up 
his suggestions with a single text, detached from its con¬ 
nections. Read in the fourth chapter of Matthew how he 
tempted our Savior, and the method Christ adopted to de¬ 
feat him. 

2. When a person takes the cross of Christ, God gives 
the strength and a glory that makes the cross easy to be 
borne. It may require more labor and more self-denial 
than has, up to this time, fallen to your lot, but Christ 
will give you such vigor and such rest of soul that you 
will get along better than you ever did in your life. His 
yoke is easy and his burden is light. 


298 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


522 SCHOOLS, Salvation 

No agency among us is doing more for the permanence 
and spread of the work of God in the earth than our sal¬ 
vation schools. They are raising up well-trained, valiant 
soldiers who will carry on the truth when we who have been 
longest on the field shall have been called from the scenes 
of conflict. The good effects of these schools have been 
already seen in all quarters of the globe. Then take hold 
and help sustain them. If you have children to send away 
to school, send them to our schools. If you have money 
to leave for the cause of God, when you are through with 
it, then leave a legacy for one of our schools. We would 
like to see each of them endowed with a liberal sum, the 
interest to be devoted to the support of the principal and 
teachers. 

523 SCOLDING Will Not Do 

You can never scold the people into a revival. All you 
say is true, and the people deserve every word of it, but 
you say it in such a scolding tone and manner that it does 
more harm than good. Do ask the Lord to change your 
spirit, so you can successfully change your manner. Get 
filled with meek and lowly, and tender love, and it will 
act like a charm on others. You can lead those whom you 
can not drive. Little as you suspect it, you really need to 
be revived yourself. You are ready to talk and to pray; 
but your talk lacks unction, and your prayers lack faith 
and fervor. You do not have the spirit of supplication. 
Beloveds, let us who preach have a revival. What do 
you say? 

524 SCRIPTURES, Wresting of 

Every book has some word or words which it uses in its 
own peculiar sense. It is so with contracts, and with all 
important writings. To understand them correctly, we must 
take the word in the sense in which the writer uses it. 
This may, or may not, be the original meaning of the word. 
This is not material. Words are simply signs of ideas. 
So, in understanding a writer, or in interpreting a document, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


299 


we must inquire what idea, in the passage under con¬ 
sideration, the word was intended to convey. To give to 
the word in any writing the meaning generally attached to 
it, although it is evident that the writer uses it in another 
sense, is to pervert its meaning. Bible words are some¬ 
times used in this way. It may be done without any in¬ 
tention to pervert the meaning of the Scriptures, but the 
result is the teaching of the Scriptures is perverted. Thus 
the word immortality is never used in the Scriptures to de¬ 
note, simply and solely, existence forever. There is always 
coupled with it the idea of a happy existence. It is not once 
used as the opposite of annihilation. But those who teach 
what they call “conditional immortality,” use it in this 
sense, and thus pervert the teaching of the Scriptures. 
Thus, in Romans 2:8, 9, Paul uses, as the opposite of 
immortality and eternal life, not annihilation, but “indig¬ 
nation and wrath, tribulation and anguish.” These terms 
plainly imply a conscious existence. 

Reader, be careful how you, in substance, say to your¬ 
self, “Take thine ease, eat, drink, and be merry,” thinking 
that death ends all. A sensual life is a senseless life. It 
does not terminate in non-existence. Christ says of a repre¬ 
sentative of this class, that he died and was buried, “and in 
hell he lifted up his eyes, being in torments” (Luke 12:23). 

Reader, shun his mode of life, as you would shun his fate. 

525 SCRUPULOUSNESS, Over- 

While we should be conscientious, we should guard against 
over-scrupulousness. Some good Christians are destroyed 
by it. We knew an excellent sister, a school-teacher, who 
became so afraid that she should not speak the exact truth 
that she would qualify everything that she said, and finally 
became afraid to say anything. She died insane. Baxter 
says: 

“If you send your servant on your message, you had 
rather he went on his way as well as he can, than stand 
scrupling every step whether he should set the right or 
left foot forward, and whether he should step so far, or so 
far at a time. Hindering scruples please not God.” 


300 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


526 SECRET LABOR ORGANIZATIONS 

Among the inalienable rights of man is the right to 
work for whom he pleases, and on what terms he pleases. 
To deprive him of this right is to deprive him of an es¬ 
sential element of personal liberty. It is taking a long 
step towards reducing him to a condition of servitude. It 
makes him, in this respect, a slave. He is no longer his 
own master. Were any state to pass and enforce a law 
that a man should not be permitted to work unless he be¬ 
longed to a particular association, and unless he received 
for his work a price stipulated by this association, and yet 
the state fail to provide him with work at that price, there 
would be a rebellion. Such a law would be considered too 
despotic to be endured. Everywhere there would be a 
revolt against it. No political party would dare to propose 
such an enactment. Such a law would be regarded as an 
infringement upon our God-given rights. Yet this is pre¬ 
cisely what the secret labor organizations are doing. If a 
man does not belong to their order they will not allow him 
to work with them. If a part of them demand wages which 
the employer is unwilling to pay, a strike is ordered. Those 
who wish to work are not permitted to do so. Any who 
attempt to take their places are maltreated and some, per¬ 
haps, are killed. All this is a violation of the fundamental 
rights of man. It tends to the overthrow of the social 
fabric. It introduces an irresponsible, despotic power. It 
it no better than robbery. It is robbery under another guise. 
No Christian can voluntarily place himself under the con¬ 
trol of others so as to authorize them to require him to do 
wrong. To belong to Christ he must be free to follow 
Christ. He cannot serve two masters. He who submits to 
the dictation of the lodge renounces allegiance to Christ. 
Other lords have dominion over him. Hence, the Free 
Methodist church, in requiring all its members to have no 
connection with secret societies, requires only that which 
is necessary to their being Christians. It renders them impor¬ 
tant aid in maintaining their personal independence. It 
also contributes materially to the good order and. the wel¬ 
fare of the community at large. Were the influence of the 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


301 


Free Methodist church all prevalent, labor troubles would, 
to a great extent, be avoided. Men would be taught that 
they can not be Christians without paying proper respect to 
the rights of others. But what inducement can there pos¬ 
sibly be to form secret societies, if men do not expect to reap 
from them advantages to which their abilities, their char¬ 
acter and their conduct do not entitle them? Patriotism 
combines with piety to urge us to do all we can to spread 
among men the Christianity taught by the New Testament. 

527 SECRET SOCIETIES and Labor 

The outrages inflicted by the secret societies which con¬ 
trol the “labor movement” are of such a nature as to demand 
suppression by the strong hand of the law. By practically 
abolishing the system of apprenticeship they virtually deny 
to the boys of this country the right to learn trades. Hence 
the foremen in most of our great manufacturing establish¬ 
ments are men born in foreign lands. American boys must 
look for employment outside of the trades, or be content 
with subordinate positions. If this state of things was 
brought about by legislative enactments, such an ado would 
be made as would soon bring about a remedy. But the 
tyranny of the trades unions is endured with a servile sub¬ 
mission alike disgraceful to freemen and dangerous to our 
liberties. We need a better, braver class of men for our 
legislators. 

528 SECTS 

There is no command in the new Testament requiring 
the church of Christ to preserve an organic unity. That 
such a union is desirable, if it were possible, is extremely 
doubtful. It is a fact that admits of no dispute, that where 
this unity prevails to the greatest extent, there the church 
is the most corrupt, as in Italy, Spain and Austria. We 
advise those who are so sorely exercised in mind over the 
number of sects in this country that they can not live in 
peace here, to emigrate to some of those countries in which 
sects are not tolerated. They will find that there may 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


302 


be unity without spirituality. .Water is never so strongly 
united as when it is frozen. But it is not the most useful 
in that state. Enough of heat to separate it makes it 
serviceable for man and beast. Even ice kept for use is 
of little service only as it is melted. The fire of divine love 
in the compact church of Italy would doubtless create di¬ 
visions, but it would do great good. There are many things 
much more deplorable than the division of the church of 
Jesus Christ into sects. Satan delights to divert good men 
from fighting sin to fighting sects. Do not be drawn away 
into this profitless work. You will be in great danger of 
becoming defiled by a spirit of bitterness, but if you should 
be one of a thousand engaged in this work who keeps the 
charity essential to salvation, your life would be misspent. 

529 SECURITY FOR OTHERS 

Many reports come to our ears of brethren, in different 
parts of the country, who have lost their property by be¬ 
coming security for others. Some of them are sad cases 
indeed. One aged couple—over seventy years of age—who 
had acquired a moderate competence by hard work, were in¬ 
duced to become security to a large amount for a short time, 
for a neighbor whom they had known from childhood as an 
honest man. The result was, they lost all and are now 
obliged to work out at days’ work to get a living. 

The way to prevent all such calamities is very simple. 
It is to obey what God’s Word says on the subject: “Be not 
thou one of them that strike hands, or of them that are 
sureties for debts. If thou hast nothing to pay, why should 
he take away thy bed from under thee?” (Prov. 27:26, 27). 
And again, “He that is surety for a stranger shall smart 
for it: and he that hateth suretiship is sure” (Prov. 11:15). 

530 SELF-DECEPTION 

The capacity of some persons for self-deception is truly 
wonderful. Were it proper to speak of genius in such a 
connection, they might be said to have a genius for im¬ 
posing upon themselves. They give every appearance of 
truly thinking they are saints; while they do not exhibit 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


303 


in every-day life the uprightness of the honest heathen. 
They profess perfect love, while they manifest in every 
method which they consider safe, unmistakable malice 
towards the objects of their dislike. They claim to be will¬ 
ing to lay down their lives for Christ; while their con¬ 
tributions for the support of his gospel are made in re¬ 
sponse to appeals to their pride or to their love of self- 
indulgence. “Who can understand his errors? Cleanse thou 
me from secret faults .” 

531 SELF-DENIAL Must be Practised 

If we do not know what self-denial for Christ’s sake 
is, we do not belong to Christ. He who lives to gratify his 
senses does not live for eternity. Nor does he know in what 
true enjoyment consists. The happiness of this life is best 
secured by meeting fully the conditions for securing the 
happiness of the life that is to come. 

“I could not choose a larger bliss 
Than .to be wholly thine.” 

But no matter what temporary suffering it may involve, 
we must keep ourselves wholly ' consecrated to God. No 
sacrifice that he calls for must be counted too great for us to 
make. Christ forbids all needless self-indulgence and ex¬ 
travagance; not that we may save the money which they 
cost, but that we may have more with which to bless others. 
No Christian “can afford” to spend money needlessly upon 
himself. 

532 SELFISHNESS and Christ’s Religion 

A selfish religion is not Christ’s religion. Men who heap 
up riches and bestow their goods only where they are not 
needed—upon wealthy churches and organizations—will hear 
Christ say, “I was an hungred, and ye gave me no meat: 
I was thirsty, and ye gave me no drink: I was a stranger, 
and ye took me not in: naked, and ye clothed me not: sick, 
and in prison, and ye visited me not.” Upon their inquir¬ 
ing in surprise when they did this, the answer will be, “Inas¬ 
much as ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did it 


304 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


not to me.” And these shall go away into everlasting 
punishment” (Matt. 25:42-46). The rich would do well to 
lay these awful words to heart. They are not likely to 
hear them from their pulpits. A divine religion is a hu¬ 
mane religion. He who loves God most is the most ready 
to make sacrifices for the good of his fellow men. 

533 SELFISHNESS, The Great Obstacle 

Consecrate your service to the Lord. Whatever your 
condition, there is work for God that you can do, and work 
that will go undone unless you do it. Each day brings its 
opportunity, which, when lost, never returns. 

Do stop living for yourself. To live for others will 
give to life a new charm. Some are never satisfied with 
their experience, and they fail to find out the cause. In 
many cases it is because they are too much taken up with 
themselves. Less money expended for personal luxuries, and 
given to relieve the privations of others, would benefit them 
in this life and in the life to come. To have a large amount 
of grace, one must have a large heart. Mueller has mighty 
faith, for he has many mouths to feed. 

Let us by ‘‘patient continuance in well doing seek for 
glory and honour and immortality,” that we may have 
“eternal life.” 

534 SENSITIVENESS, Sanctification Remedy for 

Sanctification and sensitiveness are not synonymous, but 
quite the contrary. The more fully we are sanctified the 
more easily we can endure to have others differ with us in 
opinion. We may get in our experience where we can bear 
to have a brother say that we are mistaken without our 
thinking that he accuses us of lying. It is possible for us 
to become so matured in grace that we will put the best 
construction, that it will honestly bear, on what w’e hear and 
read. We may be, even here, so completely transformed by 
the renewing of our minds, that we will have sweet and inti¬ 
mate Christian fellowship with some who differ widely from 
us in their theological opinions. Let us make haste to get 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


305 


there. It will add greatly to our own peace, and to the 
harmony and welfare of the church. 

535 SERMONS, Powerless 

Christ says: “I am the vine, ye are the branches.” The 
branch depends for its life wholly upon the vine. So our 
spiritual life and our usefulness depend on our vital union 
with Christ. “As the branch can not bear fruit of itself, 
except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye 
abide in me.” 

A follower of Jesus may have been eminently useful for 
many years; but, if he relies upon himself, or upon his 
past experience, he is no longer successful. Sampson was 
a laughing-stock for the Philistines when the Lord, because 
of his unfaithfulness, departed from him. So sermons and 
exhortations, which made men tremble when they pul¬ 
sated with the life of Christ, become, at best, only enter¬ 
taining when the dependence of the preacher is upon his 
rhetoric or elocution. The greatest of truths lose much 
of their force when only carried to the ear by the voice of 
man. Words which fall powerless upon the ear, would, 
if carried to the heart by the breath of the Almighty, effect 
a wonderful transformation. Reader, are you united to 
Christ? “But he that is joined unto the Lord is one spirit.” 

536 SERMONS Should Be Studied and Outline Written 

If God calls you to devote your time to preaching, then 
he calls you to make suitable preparation to preach. Be¬ 
cause you do not read your sermons, is no reason why you 
should not study your sermons. The less you write the 
more time yon will have to study. But you should write, 
no matter how fluently you may be able to talk. Make a 
careful, written outline of every sermon. Divide your 
subject naturally. State your propositions clearly. Prove 
every important proposition by one or two plain texts, 
correctly quoted. Do not talk at random. Make your 
points so plain that you carry the understanding and the 
conscience of your hearers with you. Master your sub¬ 
ject. Obey God’s directions. “Hear the word at my mouth, 


306 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


and give them warning from me” (Ezek. 3:17). God speaks 
generally to the soul in a still, small voice. You must live 
near him to hear that voice. You must be familiar with 
his Word if you would have God put his words in your 
mouth. 

537 SERVICE Must be Whole-hearted 

It is in vain that we use the language of devotion, unless 
our hearts are in it. God does not change. What he com¬ 
plained of in his people anciently, in lacking heart purity, 
he does not approve in his people now. 

“And they come unto thee as the people cometh, and 
they sit before me as my people, and they hear thy words, 
but they will not do them: for with their mouth they 
show much love, but their heart goeth after their covet¬ 
ousness” (Isa. 33:31). We must put our hearts in our 
prayers, in our testimony and in our songs. The most 
elaborate, artistic performances of acts of worship, as well 
as the simplest and rudest, are an abomination to God 
when they are not the genuine expressions of the feelings 
of those who participate in them. He abhors hypocrisy. 

“Half-hearted, false-hearted! Heed we the warning! 

Only the whole can be perfectly true; 

Bring the whole offering, all timid thought scorning, 
True-hearted only if whole-hearted too.” 

It is ourselves that God wants, and not merely our words. 
Let us see to it that our surrender to his will is complete. 
Let there be no more pretenses, no evasions. Let us be 
Christians, not only in some things, but in all things. Let 
our lives be continuous acts of worship. 

538 SIMPLE LIFE, Advantages of the 

Nature has her own way of evening things pretty well, 
after all. The man who has choicest delicacies to eat, 
suffers from want of appetite, and from dispepsia and other 
diseases consequent upon high living, so that his costly 
dishes do not afford him as much pleasure as the laborer 
derives from his plain food. “I will gladly exchange din- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


307 


ners with you,” said a millionaire to a laborer, ‘‘if you will 
give me your appetite and digestion.” The actual w r ants of 
the body are easily met; the imaginary wants, which spring 
from pride and envy, can never be met. His food, pre¬ 
pared by a three-thousand-dollar cook, no longer tastes 
good when he learns that his competitor has a ten-thousand- 
dollar cook. To live simply and within one’s means is to 
live well. The more of a beast a man makes of himself, 
the greater are his bodily sufferings, and the smaller is his 
capacity for real enjoyment. Good health and few wants 
afford more enjoyment than the bountiful supply of the 
artificial wants of one who has pampered appetites and a 
broken-down constitution. ‘‘Having food and raiment, let 
us be therewith content.” 

539 SINGING 

If singing is an act of worship, then the worshipers 
should sing. If they are real worshipers, they will not 
consent to delegate the singing to a few. They could 
not do this, even if these few w T ere saints. But usually 
the choir is made up largely of sinners. They sing for 
pay, or for praise. There is no worship about it. The 
sentiment expressed is not felt; the words do not have any 
meaning in the mouths of those who use them. It is a per¬ 
formance merely. But is God pleased with unmeaning per¬ 
formances? Let Christ answer: “God is a Spirit; and 
they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in 
truth” (John 4:24). That can not be done with a sense¬ 
less organ, by an ungodly choir. They must first be con¬ 
verted. Instead of hiring others to do your singing, you 
should say with the* apostle, “I will sing with the spirit, 
and I will sing with the understanding also.” No machine 
that man ever invented can do this. No instructor of 
music can teach this art. Saved persons alone are capable 
of it. And they, when they sing, need the inspiration of 
the Holy Spirit. Those who sing in the spirit get blessed 
themselves. They are lifted sometimes almost to the very 
gates of heaven. Often, under spirited singing, sinners get 
convicted and penitents converted. Masses of people are 


308 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


powerfully wrought upon by Holy Ghost singing. It produces 
an effect infinitely beyond anything that mere artistic per¬ 
formances can accomplish. Let somebody start the tune 
that can start it in a devotional key. Let us have the Spirit 
and look to get blessed in our singing. Let all sing, and put 
their hearts in the singing. 

540 SINGING: Hymn-books 

At a Free Methodist camp-meeting we gave out a hymn 
from our Free Methodist hymn-book. To our surprise, there 
was not another hymn-book on the ground. Old-fashioned 
Methodist hymns and tunes were a novelty. Each preacher 
had his favorite collection of spiritual songs, and with 
these the people were well supplied. After this it was not 
a surprise to us to learn that at evening the working forces 
were divided—some going to the “Salvation Army” and 
some to “Daniel’s Band,” not leaving enough who had power 
with God to bring through the sinners who came to the 
altar to seek salvation. 

Brethren, if you would make our work a success, you 
must fall into line and adopt Free Methodist methods, and 
read Free Methodist literature, and come into Free Metho¬ 
dist discipline. The tactics of a successful army are es¬ 
sentially the same throughout, though they may vary on 
occasion. 

541 SIN, Besetting 

If you are living in the commission of any known sin, 
you are not justified. It may be concealed from your fellow 
men, but it is not hidden from God. You may be keeping 
up a high profession; but that only makes your case the 
more hopeless, and your damnation the more terrible. You 
may be very zealous for reforms, and may succeed in cast¬ 
ing out devils and doing many mighty works, but that will 
not prevent Christ from saying to you at last, “Depart from 
me, ye workers of iniquity.” However well you may cover 
your tracks for a time, one thing you may depend upon, 
Be sure your sins will find you out. Then, at once, break 
off from your sins by righteousness. Turn to God with all 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


309 


your heart. Seek forgiveness until you find it. One reli¬ 
able evidence that God has forgiven you, is power to over¬ 
come your besetting sin. 

542 SIN, Progression in 

The ancients had a maxim, Nemo repenti fuit turpissi- 
mus —“No one suddenly becomes most vile.” An abandoned 
life, like winter, comes on by degrees. The first downward 
step which that hopeless, helpless drunkard took was play¬ 
ing checkers. To be in fashion he then took to smoking 
cigars, then to drinking beer, then whisky. His farm is gone, 
his health is gone, his character is gone, his property is gone, 
his family is brought to beggary and he is staggering up to 
the mouth of hell! 

When one departs from the strictest uprightness, he can 
not tell where he will drift. He puts himself in the power 
of his enemy, who seeks only to drag him down to destruc¬ 
tion. Little sins grow into great sins—and often they grow 
with startling rapidity. 

543 SINNERS Must Forsake All Wrong 

St. James is as explicit as Daniel in specifying the nature 
of the work which God will reward. “Let him know, that 
he that converteth the sinner from the error of his way 
shall save a soul from death, and shall hide a multitude of 
sins” (James 5:20). The converted sinner must not only 
turn to that which is good , but he must turn from everything 
that is wrong. People are very ready, in these times, to put 
on the garb of Christian profession, provided they be per¬ 
mitted to wear it over their own garments of pride and self- 
righteousness. They will consent to dress tolerably plain 
at church, if they may dazzle in diamonds in the world. 
They will put on sackcloth in Lent; but must make up for it 
in the costliness of their Easter bonnets and other gorgeous 
attire. 

Many a man will contribute liberally to the church, if he 
may still gamble in stocks, or drive hard bargains, or oppress 
the hireling in his wages. 

But the convert that God owns turns from all his errors— 


310 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


from pride, and sensuality, and covetousness, in all their 
diversified forms. 

544 SINNERS’ Services Should Be Accepted 

One can not do anything to help on the cause of God 
without getting his reward, either in this life or in the life 
to come. God is a good paymaster. Christ healed the 
centurion’s daughter on being told that “he loveth our na¬ 
tion and hath built us a synagogue.” We mentioned, a few 
weeks since, how a gentleman aided in raising a subscrip¬ 
tion to build us a church. We are just informed that he 
has been gloriously converted and has united with the Free 
Methodist church. Praise God! 

Word comes to us about an aged gentleman who had been 
prejudiced against the Free Methodists. But when they 
were to hold a conference in the town in which he lived, his 
love of hospitality led him to take an active part in pro¬ 
viding for the conference. He attended the sessions and 
the preaching services, and his prejudices were swept away. 
He got saved among them, and died in holy triumph. 

It is a great mistake not to let sinners help us, when 
they wish to and can do it consistently. We needlessly de¬ 
prive ourselves of needed help, and often prevent them from 
getting the blessing they would receive if permitted to do 
the good to which they feel inclined. 

545 SLANG Should Never Be Used 

Some of the sacred writers were men of education, 
others were unlearned. There is a great difference in their 
style; but they all agree on one point —none of them used 
slang. The simplest style found in the Bible is yet a pure 
style. We wish to call the attention of all who speak in 
public, and especially our preachers, to this. It is our settled 
conviction that no one can use slang without grieving the 
Spirit of God. The use of it is offensive to all persons of 
good taste, and especially to those who have the Spirit. 
To use low, slang phrases is neither winning, witty nor 
wise. “Only let your conversation be as it becometh the 
gospel of Christ.” If this should be the rule for private 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


311 


conversation, much more should it be for public addresses. 
You can be familiar without being low and vulgar. Study 
the Bible. Study the “Pilgrim’s Progress.” Bunyan was 
uneducated. His associations were with the poor and igno¬ 
rant. In early life he formed bad habits of speech. But 
conversion cured him. In his writings there is nothing of¬ 
fensive to the most fastidious taste. His language was that 
of the common people. But you find in his writings no low, 
vulgar expressions. Imitate him in this respect. Say noth¬ 
ing that borders on buffoonery. Do not court a laugh when 
you should win a soul. Be serious. Be in earnest; and do 
not be vulgar. 

546 SLOTHFUL PROFESSOR 

He who is always looking for difficulties will always find 
difficulties. “The slothful man saith, There is a lion with¬ 
out, I shall be slain in the streets” (Prov. 22:13). The 
trouble was with the man, not with the street. Laziness is 
a great inventor. It can always find reasons satisfactory to 
itself for not doing what is needed to be done. It is as 
abundant in resolutions as the apostles were in acts. But 
the highest resolves accomplish no more than to ease the 
conscience. Like Pollok’s candidate for fame, he 

“Saw in the very threshold of pursuit, 

A thousand obstacles; he halted first, 

And while he halted, saw his burning hopes 
Grow dim and dimmer still, * * 

His purposes made daily, daily broken. 

Like plants uprooted oft, and set again, 

More sickly grew, and daily wavered more, 

Till at the last * * 

Sleep gathered fast, and weighed him downward still.” 

It is time that the resolutions of many began to take 
form in action. God works in us to will and to do, but we 
must work out our own salvation. And we must work with 
a will. We can not 

“be carried to the skies 
On flowery beds of ease.” 

Reader, are you a working Christian? 


312 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


A lazy person can not be a Christian. He may be in 
the church, but he can not be in Christ. All who are in 
Christ partake of his spirit. And his is a diligent spirit. 
When only twelve years of age he said: “Wist ye not that 
I must be about my Father’s business?” (Luke 2:49). 

Paul, while insisting upon the deepest piety, directs its 
possessor to “be not slothful in business” (Rom. 12:10) ; 
and the wise man said, “Whatsoever thy hand findeth to 
do, do it with thy might” (Eccl. 9:10). The grace of God 
puts life and energy in its possessor. This is seen in tem¬ 
poral and spiritual matters. He who prevails with God in 
prayer on his knees, will do good work for man with his 
hands. It was Paul’s boast that “these hands have min¬ 
istered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me” 
(Acts 20: 34). Wilful idleness is sin. 

547 SOCIAL BEING, Man a 

Man was not made to be alone. He was formed for so¬ 
ciety. Christianity is a social religion. As soon as Andrew 
felt the joy of communion with Christ he brought his brother 
to share in the blessed fellowship. Happiness is multiplied 
by being divided with others. 

“Oh, the music and beauty of life lose their worth 
When one heart only joys in their smiles; 

But the union of hearts gives that pleasure its birth, 
Which beams on the darkness and coldness of earth, 

Like the sun on its own chosen isles: 

It gives to the fireside of winter its light, 

The glow and the glitter of spring.” 

We need a personal experience of saving grace; but 
it should be such an experience as leads us to long to 
share it with others. No man who is truly born of the 
Spirit lives to himself alone. Of all human beings he is 
the most careworn who cares only for himself. 

548 SOCIETIES, Forming New 

In forming new societies it is of great importance that 
they be composed of godly men and women. The first mem¬ 
bers should be saved members. They should know our 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


313 


principles, and should be consecrated to God to carry them 
out. They should have a clear experience of sanctifying 
grace, and a fixed determination to live holy lives. Such 
members will mold others as they come in. They will grow 
up a strong society, having power with God and influence 
with men. Societies of this kind are not liable to be torn 
to pieces by internal dissensions, nor to die of formality. 
They will settle down to steady work for Christ in the sal¬ 
vation of souls, and, as a consequence, they will prosper. It 
is better not to form a society than to form one out of bad 
materials. It is the character of the individual members, 
more than the Discipline to which they say they gave their 
assent, which determines the character of a society. 

549 SOUL Food 

When we are hungry the sound of the dinner bell is 
pleasant to us. We like to hear it. But when we get to 
the table we expect something to eat. We are not satisfied 
any longer with the jingle of the bell. We want something 
besides noise. So when people come to our meetings they 
come to hear something that will do them good. They 
want food for the soul. If they wished to listen to one who 
“can play well on an instrument,” they would have gone 
somewhere else. No man can minister acceptably to our 
congregations, however full his head may be of words, 
unless his heart is full of grace. Our people want some¬ 
thing more than mere rattle. The sounding brass and the 
tinkling cymbal will not satisfy them, however skilfully 
they may be sounded and tinkled. It is not enough to 
preach about the Spirit. The preacher should be so filled 
that he can minister the Spirit. He must not only tell 
the people to get blessed ; he must himself get blessed. To do 
this he must walk closely with God all the week. If he 
has been indolent, and self-indulgent through the week, he 
can not atone for it by violent vociferations on the Sabbath. 

550 SOUL Hunger Must be Satisfied 

The success of any church will be in proportion to the 
zeal and fidelity with which it holds up Christ. Everywhere 


314 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


the people are spiritually starving. Many are so far gone 
that they have no sense of hunger. Dogmas will not feed 
them. Denunciations and controversy will but drive them 
away. As the smell of nicely cooked food awakens the 
appetites of the body, so the odor of sanctity never fails 
to excite a hunger for righteousness. 

Nothing can satisfy soul-hunger but the Bread of Life 
which came down from Heaven. He that feeds on Christ 
shall never hunger. The restless craving for something un¬ 
attained is gone. Then hold up Christ. He is more at¬ 
tractive than the best trained choir—than the most eloquent 
preacher. We should show men their needs in order that 
we may point them to Christ, who can satisfy their every 
need. 

* 551 SOULS, Wisdom Required in Dealing With 

In cutting a tree into wood we strike slanting blows, and 
take out at first large chips. To get the log cut through 
once, we have to cut it through twice. Every chip requires 
a blow at each end. This may seem to the inexperienced 
a great waste of labor, but it is a great saving of labor. 
In fact, it is the only way to cut through a large log. By 
striking straight across the grain in one place you could 
never get the ax in far. You would mar the log, but you 
would get no wood. We see why some Christian workers 
accomplish so little. They strike hard blows; but they 
are not well-directed blows. In their eagerness to get at 
the heart, they go square across the grain. A Freemason 
or a flounced and feathered woman has been wounded by 
the Almighty and comes to their meeting for help. They 
make a direct attack upon the idol at once, stir up oppo¬ 
sition and drive them away. By indirect blows they might 
easily have cut the badge or the flowers out, but, as they 
went to work, they only gave offense. They drove hungry 
souls away empty; and they never came back again. He 
that winneth souls is wise. It requires neither wisdom nor 
grace to make them mad. If that is all you have done, do 
not boast of your fidelity. Ask God to give you Heavenly 
wisdom, that you may achieve real success. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


315 


552 SOUL-SAVING, Devotion to 

If God calls you to the work of the ministry, then give 
your heart to the work. Do not allow yourself to be di¬ 
verted from-it. If you devote your strength to hunting 
heresies and fighting every wrong notion, you ought not 
to wonder that the work of God does not prosper in your 
hands. If you want to see souls saved you must give your¬ 
self to the work of soul-saving. Going through the forms 
in an appropriate manner may ease your conscience, but it 
will not meet the claims of God nor bring souls to the 
cross. Do get baptized with a spirit of sympathy for the 
lost. Do give yourself wholly to the work of saving souls. 
You will astonish yourself at seeing what a revival preacher 
you will make. 

553 SPEECH, Plainness of 

Fancy flourishes in the pulpit may entertain the audi¬ 
ence, but they excite no terror among the enemies of God. 
The preacher who does execution must be in dead earnest. 
Affected prettinesses are as much out of place in the house 
of God as they would be on the battlefield. Away with them. 
Use plain words in a plain manner. 

“Speak thou the truth. Let others fence 
And trim their words for pay; 

In pleasant sunshine or pretense 
Let others bask their day.” 

But do you deliver God’s message in God’s own words? 
Stand in fear of hell; but do not be afraid to say hell! 
If you are a messenger of God, you have warnings from 
God. Do not fail to deliver them faithfully. The salvation 
of your own soul, as well as that of your hearers, is at 
stake. “Take heed unto thyself, and unto the doctrine; 
continue in them: for in doing this thou shalt both save 
thyself, and them that hear thee” (1 Tim. 4:16). 

554 SPIRIT, Be Filled With the 

“Be filled with the Spirit.” The Holy Spirit is meant. 
It is put in contrast with wine, the evil spirit that leads 
many to excess, and madness, and poverty, and crime. The 


316 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


two do not go together. Though some men appear uncom¬ 
monly religious when partially intoxicated, yet their religion 
is of no value, for it is not the right kind. It is the religion 
of the flesh, though it may appear to be very zealous for 
Christianity. The clothes may be Jacob’s but the voice 
is Esau’s. 

It is not enough to have the Spirit of God: we must be 
filled with the Spirit. Admit sunshine to a room, and it 
at once floods it, and expels the darkness. Open your soul 
to the Holy Spirit, and he will drive out all antagonistic 
spirits. Pride and envy, and covetousness, and unholy de¬ 
sire, will be banished; and they can never re-enter as long 
as the soul is filled with the Spirit. The easiest way to get 
air out of a tumbler is to fill it with water; and the easiest 
way to get vanity and all bad passions out of the heart is 
to have it filled with the Spirit. Then set yourself to obey 
this command, and be filled with the Spii'it. 

It is remarkable that the Apostle, after commanding us 
to be filled with the Spirit, immediately gives us directions 
how to act under his influence. This deserves our serious 
attention. What do we learn by it? We ought to learn a 
great deal. It should teach us that no degree of the Holy 
Spirit’s influence ever deprives us of our free moral agency. 
The Spirit may rest upon us to that degree as to take away, 
for the time being, our physical strength; but the moral 
nature is never overpowered. We are still, under the 
mightiest pressure of the Spirit, left free to act. When 
overwhelmed by a manifestation of the Son of God, Paul 
says, “I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.” 
He was not compelled by it; but he yielded voluntary 
obedience to it. God never does violence to the human will. 
He never turns any man into a mere machine. To do so 
would be to deprive him of his religious nature—to render 
him incapable of true obedience. We never think of praising 
our watch because it keeps good time. It runs just as it 
was made to run. But man is not a curiously-made piece of 
mechanism. He is a moral being—always capable of choice 
and of self-direction. Hence, when he goes wrong he is to 
be blamed. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


317 


555 SPIRITUAL STRENGTH Must be Renewed 

Physical strength, to be retained, must be renewed. Un¬ 
less he eats and sleeps, the strongest will soon give out. 
It is so spiritually. The soul that has prayed for pardon 
and found it, needs to watch and pray that he enter not 
again into temptation. One who has been sanctified wholly 
needs to go on and add to the grace which he then received, 
in order that he may “never fall” but that “an entrance 
may be ministered unto him abundantly into the everlasting 
kingdom of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” 

So we need to wait on the Lord, that our strength may 
be renewed. We can not live on past blessings, either for 
soul or for body. Paul’s experience was genuine and thor¬ 
ough, yet he wrote of himself, “Though our outward man 
perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day.” 
Many of high profession become dry and spiritually dead, 
for want of this daily, inward renewing. The petition 
which our Lord taught us, “Give us this day our daily 
bread,” is in behalf of the soul no less than of the body. 
They are the strongest who makes the best use of the means 
of grace. He who does not pray much in secret, must not 
look to be signally rewarded openly. The face of Moses 
shone before the people, but it was when he went before 
them from communing with God. 

656 SOWING AND REAPING 

No farmer who sows oats expects to harvest from 
this sowing a crop of wheat. To raise weeds it is not 
necessary to sow weeds. The land partakes of man’s 
depravity; only let it alone and you have a plentiful crop 
of weeds. So, to reap the fruits of righteousness, the 
seeds of righteousness must be sown. And one sowing will 
not suffice. The fallow ground must be frequently broken 
up, and the vital seeds of God’s eternal truth be sown broad¬ 
cast in the contrite spirit, and fruit will be gathered unto 
eternal life. But constant watching and unceasing pains¬ 
taking are necessary. The most productive garden, planted 
with the choicest seeds, will not bear to be neglected. Our 
eternal salvation is not, ordinarily, worked out in a day 


318 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


or in a year. There must be no slackness till the end is 
reached. “Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee 
a crown of life” (Rev. 2:10). 

557 STRAIGHT WAY 

Between two given points on a plain surface only one 
straight line can be drawn. Starting from one of these 
points, any number of crooked lines can be drawn in the 
general direction of the other, without hitting it. So there 
is but one way to Heaven—the Way of Holiness. The 
number of ways to miss it is legion. Straight lines resemble 
each other. Of thousands of crooked ones, two may not 
be alike. Fenelon was a Roman Catholic, Edwards a Pres¬ 
byterian, Wesley the founder of Methodism, Stephen Grel- 
let a Quaker, but they all point out the same way to 
Heaven. We have looked over the writings of many Uni- 
versalists and semi-Universalists and infidels, but we find 
no two of them who agree. Each has his own discovery 
of the way to life and happiness, but finds to his dismay 
that true Christians neglect his discoveries, and go on in 
the old paths of righteousness, happy and contented. Let 
us hold on steadily in the narrow way, contending earnestly 
for the faith once delivered to the saints. “As for such 
as turn aside unto their crooked ways, the Lord shall lead 
them forth with the workers of iniquity: but peace shall 
be upon Israel” (Ps. 125:5). 

558 STRANGERS, Do Not Sign Papers For 

“Be not forgetful to entertain strangers”; but do not 
sign any papers for them. If you do, you may get yourself 
into trouble. Some of our laws aid villainy. An unsus¬ 
pecting, honest farmer, near us, was induced to buy of a 
genteel, polished stranger, two bags of a new kind of 
fertilizer. The cost was to be but little; and nothing if he 
did not like it. He was induced to sign an order for it. 
This signature cost him three hundred dollars. 

It is time that our laws which make notes obtained by 
fraud valid in the hands of an “innocent purchaser” were 
reversed. A note, like a deed, or the title to any other kind 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


319 


of property, should, if there is any wrong connected with it, 
carry the taint with it wherever it goes. If this were made 
the law, as it certainly should be, it would close up one of 
the richest mines of villainy now worked. 

559 STRENGTH, God is Our 

A man may be poor; but if he is doing business for one 
who is rich, and is authorized by his employer to draw upon 
him for all the money he needs to carry on his business, he 
has no right to complain of a lack of funds as long as his 
drafts are honored. 

We are weak; but if we are truly the servants of God, 
we have the right to come to him for all the strength we 
need. He is our strength. We may all pray w T ith the 
Psalmist: “Give thy strength unto thy servant” (Ps. 86: 
16). When this prayer is offered in faith, by the weakest 
servant of God, it is always answered. Then we can say 
with the Apostle, “When I am weak, then am I strong.” 
Thus we often see the one who is called “the weaker vessel” 
the stronger to endure the hardships and the trials of life. 
Nor need we be deterred in the least by our own insig¬ 
nificance; for God’s strength is made perfect in weakness. 
The weaker we are by nature, the more clearly will it be 
seen that our strength is of God. 

560 STRENGTH, Our, in God 

We must not in our faith limit the power of God. To 
his friend of old he said: “I am the Almighty God; walk 
before me, and be thou perfect” (Gen. 17 :1). We are apt 
to base what we think we can do in the service of God, 
upon what we are. He that does this can not seriously 
aim to “be perfect” before God. He may have a very im¬ 
perfect knowledge of himself; but he knows he is not 
capable of so great an achievement. It is far beyond his 
capacity. But he who really depends upon God, depends 
upon strength that can never fail. It is always equal to 
any emergency. To him who would walk unspotted from 
the pollutions which he may encounter in the path of duty; 
to him who would overcome his enemies in every conflict, 


320 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


God says: “Let him take hold of my strength” (Isa. 
27:5). That can never, by any possibility, fail. 

561 STRENUOUS, Not Enough To Be 

It is a great mistake for one to suppose that he is a 
radical Christian because he is strenuous about external 
things, great and small. The Pharisees were. Inward 
piety will always be attended w T ith outward piety. True 
grace is neither barren nor unfruitful. 

But there may be a scrupulous attention to the outside, 
while the heart work is wanting. Red cheeks are not al¬ 
ways an evidence of health. They may be painted by van¬ 
ity, or tinged by consumption. It is important to dress 
plain; it is still more important to have the spirit clothed 
with humility. We should bear our testimony against pride 
and worldly conformity, but it is still more necessary that 
we are ourselves delivered from a spirit of envy and jeal¬ 
ousy. We should see to it that grace goes to the very 
bottom of our natures, and roots out every plant that is 
not of heavenly origin. 

562 STUDY, Importance of 

If a preacher would be permanently useful, he must 
study. This is imperative. No natural gifts can render 
study unnecessary. The most brilliant speaker will soon 
lose interest in what he says, if he keeps on, year after 
year, repeating his old discourses. And if a speaker is not 
himself interested in what he says, he will fail to interest 
others. Such persons, finding their usefulness gone, them¬ 
selves a burden, and their ministry a drudgery, are apt 
to forsake their divine calling at a time of life when they 
should be capable of doing the most good. 

Years ago we said to the most original genius we ever 
knew, “You ought to study more.” “What shall I study?” 
was the sublime reply, with special emphasis on I. For 
many years, when the church has needed his services most, 
and when his influence might have been most widely felt, 
he has been hid away, buried out of sight. The ocean keeps 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


321 


full by being fed by thousands of rivers; the richest soil 
maintains its productiveness by absorbing fertility from 
earth and water and air; and so the mind most richly en¬ 
dowed by nature must take in new supplies of mental food, 
or it will gradually lose its grasp and power. Timothy was 
gifted, and well trained, and deeply pious, and filled with 
the Spirit; but Paul wrote to him, “Give attendance to 
reading.” But, alas, what is the use of writing? Those 
who need this note, most probably, will not read it. 

563 SUBMISSION Required 

One reason why some decided Christians do not grow in 
grace, and have more power with God and man, is that 
they must always have their own way. They do not know 
how to give up in any matter in which they differ in opinion 
from their brethren. They are self-willed and contentious. 
They believe in submission to themselves. 

Dr. Adam Clarke says: “The Apostle inculcates the ne¬ 
cessity of order and subjection, especially in the church. 
Those who are impatient of rule are generally those who 
wish to tyrannize. And those who are loudest in their com¬ 
plaints against authority, whether civil or ecclesiastical, are 
those who wish to have the power in their own hands, and 
would infallibly abuse it if they had. They alone who are 
willing to obey are capable of rule; and he who can rule 
well is as willing to obey as to govern. Let all be sub¬ 
missive and orderly.” 

564 SUBMISSION Essential to Christian Life 

A horse or an ox, to be of service, must be broken. A 
wild horse may excel in beauty and in speed, but who ex¬ 
cept himself is benefited by his fleetness? The yoke is an 
emblem of subjection and of service. Every man who lives 
in society must, sooner or later, submit to restraint. It is 
not possible always to have one’s own way. The Czar of 
Russia is an autocrat; but he often fails to secure the 
accomplishment of his wishes. He who must sometimes give 
up, can not be taught too early to yield. The habit of sub- 


322 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


mission, early formed, renders submission easy. The child 
trained from infancy to obey parental authority, as he be¬ 
comes older submits gracefully to school authority, and 
makes a useful, law-abiding citizen, and a faithful, cross¬ 
bearing Christian. Children who have been brought up in 
indulgence may be converted; but it is very hard to keep 
them converted. They chafe under the necessary discipline. 

565 SUBMISSION, Christian, Graceful 

A true Christian can submit, even when he knows he is 
right and others are wrong. It does not require grace 
to have our own way, or to quit the field if we find we 
can not have it. Adam Clarke, in his old age, was made 
a supernumerary, against his request. When informed of 
it, he wrote: 

“I feel that I have been ill-used in that work which 
God called me to, and which Mr. Wesley with his own 
hands confirmed me in, by their setting me down for a 
supernumerary, against remonstrances made to the presi¬ 
dent himself. Though, therefore, I conceive I have no ap¬ 
pointment, I go preaching about wherever they call me to 
work for their charities. You see, therefore, that though I 
am hurt, I have not taken that offense which causes me to 
stumble. My time is nearly done. I have worked hard, 
borne many privations, and suffered much hardship, for 
more than half a century—and was still willing to work: 
and as I could still work with the same energy and effect, 
for God continued to own my word, it was not well to 
throw me thus far beyond the working pale! God is right¬ 
eous, AND MY SOUL BOWS BEFORE HIM !” 

566 SUBMISSION Must be Mutual 

A preacher says, “We have a man in our society who is 
very good if he can have everything his own way.” There 
may be other societies which have a man of this char¬ 
acter. So we venture to say a few words to them in love: 
Brother, if you are a disciple of Christ, you are a learner. 
That is the meaning of the word disciple. A judicious 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


323 


scholar studies the necessary branches of learning in which 
he is deficient. He may not like them. But if, to be 
useful, he needs to understand them, he conquers his aver¬ 
sion. You are deficient in submission. It is an important, 
and may easily become a fatal, deficiency. It was this 
that cast Satan down from Heaven. It will keep you out. 
No-matter how much you may love other truths, if you do 
not learn the doctrine of submission, and practise it, you 
can never enter Heaven. It will not do for you to like 
to have others submit to you, and stop then; you must 
learn to submit to them. The command is, “Submitting 
yourselves one to another in the fear of the Lord.” This 
shows that it must be mutual. You have construed it to 
mean that everybody must submit to you. A sad mistake! 
The Apostle classes among those who are “reserved unto 
the day of judgment” to be punished, “them that despise 
government. Presumptuous are they, selfwilled, they are 
not afraid to speak evil of dignities.” Beware that you do 
not belong to this class. 

567 SUBMISSION: Obedience to Authorities 

Saints are not self-willed. No one can remain in the 
school of Christ who does not learn and practise submission 
to right authority. He should not submit to sin; but he 
should submit to those who are over him and admonish him 
in the Lord. John Wesley was not the greatest preacher of 
his age; but he was the greatest organizer: and while but 
little remains of the work of Whitefield, the influence of 
Wesley is felt throughout the world. But Wesley insisted 
upon obedience in all his societies. Those who would not obey 
the rules were dropped. 

The Jesuits, as a body,, are the worst religious society 
on earth, and the most powerful and successful. Their in¬ 
fluence depends almost wholly upon the spirit of obedience 
that is inculcated. It is carried to the utmost conceivable 
limit. The Jesuit must obey his superior in all things, right 
or wrong; but the saint of God can never do that which is 
morally wrong, no matter who enjoins it. But in other 
things he is meek and submissive. 


324 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


568 SUBMISSION to Government Important 

St. Peter says that among those who are reserved “unto 
the day of judgment to be punished” are “them that walk 
after the flesh in the lust of uncleanness and despise gov¬ 
ernment.” Those who refuse to join a church because they 
are unwilling to be governed, would do well to carefully 
consider this passage. It applies with equal force to those 
in the church, who have promised to be governed by the 
Discipline, but who wilfully violate it. A Free Methodist 
preacher who is very ready to govern, but not to be governed , 
is really in a dangerous spiritual condition. The inde¬ 
pendence of which he boasts is a strong evidence of a lack 
of grace. One trait of those who are filled with the Spirit, 
is a readiness to submit themselves one to another in the 
fear of God. 

569 SUBSTITUTE FOR THE GOSPEL 

“When a person or a church begins to backslide, there 
is often no stopping-place until the depths of perdition are 
reached. A neatly-printed pamphlet of ninety-six pages has 
been sent us giving an account of an “Assembly” and 
“Camp-Meeting” to be held under the auspices of ministers 
of the M. E. church. Among the attractions to the camp¬ 
meeting mention is made of “singing evangelists,” who, in 
addition to leading the congregation, will give you solos 
and duets, with guitar or piano or organ accompaniments 
that would be worth, several times over, a fifty-cent concert 
ticket. The camp-meeting is to be followed immediately by 
the assembly. Among the celebrities to be present to edify 
and entertain the people, is a “noted violinist,” a profes¬ 
sional fiddler, who “will perform such feats on his versatile 
instrument as will astonish and delight all listeners. He 
is a violin virtuoso not equaled by any violinist of his age 
in the country, and has few if any superiors among the 
older artists.” 

They must be hardened sinners indeed, who can not be 
drawn into the church by such singing and fiddling, and 
guitar and piano and organ accompaniment! But perhaps 
they are in the church already, and these varied perform- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


325 


ances are provided to furnish for them a substitute for the 
joy of salvation! 

But the astonishing thing is that those who get up 
these entertainments call themselves Methodists! Sidney 
Smith, a clergyman of the Church of England, wrote of 
them about fifty or sixty years ago: 

“The Methodists hate pleasure and amusements; no the¬ 
atre, no cards, no dancing, no Punchinello, no dancing dogs, 
no blind fiddlers; all the amusements of the rich and the 
poor must disappear wherever these gloomy people get a 
footing. It is not the abuse of pleasure which they attack, 
but the interspersion of pleasure, however much it is guarded 
by good sense and moderation.”— Works, p. 44. 

John Wesley, whom they claim as their founder, says: 
“A Methodist is one who has the ‘love of God shed abroad 
in his heart by the Holy Ghost given unto himone who 
loves the Lord his God with all his heart, and with all his 
soul, and with all his mind, and with all his strength. God 
is the joy of his heart, and the desire of his soul; which is 
constantly crying out, ‘Whom have I in heaven but thee? 
and there is none upon the earth that I desire beside thee! 
My God and my all! Thou art the strength of my heart 
and my portion forever!’ He is therefore happy in God, 
yea, always happy, as having in him ‘a well of water spring¬ 
ing up unto everlasting life,’ and overflowing his soul with 
peace and joy.”— Works, vol. 5, p. 241. 

Were the early Methodists fanatics? or are the modern, 
fashionable, pleasure-seeking Methodists deceived world¬ 
lings? Which? They are so opposite to each other that it 
is impossible for both to be right. 

570 SUPERFICIAL WORK is Deceiving 

A sure way to deceive people is to place the standard 
of Christian holiness below the Bible standard. Many do 
this; and by doing this persuade numbers to profess holi¬ 
ness. But this is labor lost, to one who is working for 
eternity. Many “holiness teachers” in the M. E. church 
make the standard of holiness lower, in the matter of 
dress, than their Discipline makes it for those who are 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


320 

scripturally awakened. Their Discipline teaches that the 
Spirit of God and the Word of God require more self- 
denial of an awakened person than these “holiness teachers” 
say is required of one who is sanctified wholly. Of course 
both can not be right. If we are convinced that any teach¬ 
ers are dangerously lowering the standard of holiness, we 
should be careful how we give them our countenance or 
support. We must not do superficial work, either per¬ 
sonally or through others. Our work is to be tried by 
fire. 

571 SYMPATHY 

The success of a preacher depends largely on his ability 
to put himself in sympathy with his hearers. Unless he 
does this, no matter how great are the truths which he 
proclaims, and how ably he presents them, he will repel 
rather than attract, drive away rather than draw. 

To put himself in sympathy with his hearers the preacher 
must have real sympathy for them. Anything affected will 
soon be found out. Love begets love. Those in whom we 
feel a lively interest will feel an interest in us, and in what 
we say. 

This sympathy should be manifested in our words and 
our manners. We should put ourselves on common ground 
with our hearers as far as possible. Instead of seeing how 
far we disagree, we should see how far we can agree. There 
should be no compromise, no withholding unpopular truth. 
The truth should be fearlessly proclaimed, but it should be 
proclaimed in love. The more severe is the truth, the more 
tender should be the manner. 

There should be nothing of the spirit of “Hear now, ye 
rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?” 
(Num. 20:19). 

So, too, in our personal intercourse we should be tender, 
gentle and sympathetic; not standing upon our rights, not 
provoking in our manners. Rather, with the Apostle we 
should be able to say, “But we were gentle among you, even 
as a nurse cherisheth her children” (1 Thess. 2:7). 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


327 


572 SYMPATHY, Power of 

In efforts to save souls, sympathy goes farther than se¬ 
verity. Kindness will bring more to their knees than hard 
knocks. Christ was moved with compassion. He said very 
plain things; but he said them from a heart overflowing 
with tenderness. His words, his actions, his manners, his 
tones of voice, his pathetic utterances, showed that he came, 
not to destroy men’s lives, but to save them. If you have 
his Spirit, and imitate him in these things, you will draw 
men to you, and not drive them from you. People who 
come to hear you preach will continue to come. You will 
hold your congregation. The plainest things that you may 
be led of God to say, will be received, and will profit the 
hearers. There will be a subtle, unseen influence about 
you, that will make those who feel all cut to pieces by 
your words say, “Well, I like him after all.” 

573 SYMPATHY, Practical 

There is something striking in the arrangement of words 
in the last verse of Psalm 126, as well as in the words them¬ 
selves : “He that goeth forth and weepeth, bearing precious 
seed, shall doubtless come again with rejoicing, bringing 
his sheaves with him.” In this verse the weeping is made 
the principal act. Generally we preachers make bearing the 
precious seed—stating the truth—the principal act. We 
lay more stress upon logic than upon sympathy. Is not this 
one reason why preaching is not more effective? If we 
felt more deeply for the souls of those whom we address, 
our words would, in a greater number of instances, reach 
their hearts. He that goeth before his people endeavoring 

“With cries, entreaties, tears, to save; 

To snatch them from a gaping grave,” 

can never be wholly unsuccessful. Some at least will be won 
to Christ. 

574 TACT, Commendable 

Paul’s tact with the Athenians is deserving of study and 
imitation. His self-control was wonderful. “His spirit was 


328 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


stirred in him when he saw the city wholly given to idol¬ 
atry.” But he did not use toward them the language of 
denunciation. He did not even call them idolaters. On the 
contrary, his words were highly complimentary. He did 
not say they had no religion, but “Ye men of Athens, I per¬ 
ceive that in all things ye are too religious” (Acts 17:22). 
For the word translated “superstitious,” in our common 
version, should be rendered “religious.” You reverence all 
the gods you know, and one that you do not know. Their 
philosophers had charged Paul with being “a setter forth 
of strange gods.” Without directly replying to the charge, 
he says, “For as I passed by and beheld your devotions, I 
saw an altar with this inscription: TO THE UNKNOWN 
GOD. Whom therefore ye ignorantly worship, him declare 
I unto you.” He did not compromise, but he did not need¬ 
lessly provoke their prejudices. He stood with them on a 
common platform and laid before them some of the great 
truths which they admitted, and emphasized them. They 
were a hard class to labor among—the self-conceited always 
are—but he made a few converts. 

575 TALENTS to be Employed 

If we belong to God, all our talents belong to God. 
This is as true of one kind of talent as of another. All 
alike should be employed for promoting the kingdom of 
God. The man who has a talent for making money, should 
make money for God, just as the one who has a talent for 
preaching should preach for God. A farmer, or a teacher, 
should be as thoroughly consecrated as a preacher. The 
one can no more keep back a part of what belongs to God, 
when he calls for it, than can the other. The sanctity of 
the gospel should be carried into every avocation of life. 
Every employment becomes a holy calling when it is car¬ 
ried on from holy motives and with holy hands. Different 
departments of God’s service should never conflict with 
each other. All are members of one body. “And the eye 
can not say unto the hand, I have no need of thee: nor 
again the head to the feet, I have no need of you.” 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


329 


576 TEACHABLENESS, a Mark of True Conversion 

A desire to learn is one of the marks of a true con¬ 
version. A disciple is a learner. That is the meaning of 
the word. When one gets where he can not learn—when 
he has grown so large that no one can teach him—he has 
left the school of Christ. He has set up for himself. Christ 
has also left him. He manifests a spirit of intolerance, of 
impatience of contradiction, that is utterly inconsistent with 
the spirit of Christ. He is lacking in that charity without 
which salvation is impossible. He is puffed up with a feel¬ 
ing of his own consequence; and whoever opposes him, he 
takes it for granted, opposes God. The learned college pro¬ 
fessor is a hard student; and he who truly knows most of 
divine things is most eager to learn divine things. The 
“beloved disciple” who had most of the spirit of Christ, 
got nearest to Christ that not a word might escape him. 
“Seest thou a man wise in his own conceit? there is more 
hope of a fool than of him” (Prov. 26:12). 

577 TEACHING, Accuracy in 

In religious teaching avoid all hair-spun distinctions. 
Some make a difference between being justified hy faith 
and through, faith. There is no ground for any such dis¬ 
tinction. The same Greek word is in the New Testament 
translated in many places “by” and in many places “through.” 
We should aim at accuracy in our teaching; but we should 
be careful and not make distinctions that the Bible does 
not make. A critical spirit does not help souls, as does 
a tender, loving spirit. One may speak wrong and mean 
right. God understands him, and takes him as he means. 
Inspired writers do not descend to theological niceties and 
definitions. We do well to imitate them in a careful avoid¬ 
ance of mere technicalities. The main thing is to minister 
the Spirit. 

578 TEMPER, Control of 

One measure of our strength is our power of resistance. 
A wooden ship can fire as heavy bullets as an ironclad, but 


330 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


it stands no chance of success in a conflict with one; for 
the balls which the ironclad could easily ward off penetrate 
its vitals and send it to the bottom. One may talk elo¬ 
quently, but if he can not control his appetites or his 
temper; if he gives way to petty resentments; he easily falls 
a prey to the enemy. The career of some of the most gifted 
preachers we have ever known was short; and it ended in 
ignominy and disgrace, from their lack of power to resist 
evil. Gifts can never take the place of grace. And no 
church, however pure, can supply its members with grace. 
It may show them their lack, but to obtain it they must 
themselves come to God for it. 

579 TEMPER, Uncontrolled 

Some men will never occupy the position for which 
they are otherwise fitted, because of their neglect to govern 
their tempers. Instead of ruling their spirits, their spirits 
rule them. Two of our greatest statesmen might have been 
successively president of the United States, but for an un¬ 
fortunate quarrel between them. It began, it is said, over 
a matter of absolutely no importance—a criticism upon a 
word. Many a person owes the failure to achieve success 
to a waspish disposition made such by indulgence in sting¬ 
ing repartees and remarks. Whatever one’s natural dis¬ 
position, he may strengthen it, modify it,, or completely 
change it, by suitable effort. As education puts men more 
nearly on a level as to their ability, so does grace as far as 
disposition is concerned. No child of God should ever be 
peevish or irritable. “He that is slow to anger is better 
than the mighty; and he that ruleth his spirit than he that 
taketh a city.” 

580 TEMPTATION, Decision Required in 

It is a mistake to conclude that because you yielded to 
temptation, after sincerely coming to God and getting 
blessed, that you were deceived and did not get what you 
thought you did. Your mistake was in supposing that the 
Spirit would carry you along in the right direction without 
any volition on your part. He never does that. When 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


331 


temptation comes, lie inclines you to make the right de¬ 
cision, but you must not fail to make it on your part. You 
must not allow some stronger will to overpower you. It 
can, only with your consent. You can wind up a clock so 
that it will run all right until it runs down. But you can 
not wind yourself up in this way. You will have to take 
the trouble to decide right, and to act right, in each par¬ 
ticular case as it comes along. This you may think trou¬ 
blesome, but it is the only possible way that you can live 
religion. It is easy to do it when once you see the neces¬ 
sity for it and make up your mind to do it. Plod along, 
and day by day “Work out your own salvation ivitli fear 
and trembling. For it is God which worketh in you both 
to will and to do of his good pleasure .” 

581 TEMPTATION: Grace Will be Tested 

Genuine grace is tested grace. It was immediately after 
Jesus had been miraculously and publicly owned of God that 
he was led up into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil. 
But Christ did not conclude that he was mistaken in think¬ 
ing that God had spoken to him, because the devil was so 
bold and so urgent with his suggestions. The disciple is 
not above his Master. So if you are blessed of God you 
may set it down as certain that you will be tempted of the 
devil. But do not be alarmed. When the temptation comes, 
God will “with the temptation also make a way to escape, 
that ye may be able to bear it.” But as this way opens 
before you, without delay you must enter upon it, with a 
firm, decided step. The way is provided by another; our 
traveling upon it is done by ourselves. Step by step in the 
narrow way is eternal life reached; blow by blow is the 
battle against the powers of darkness fought, and the final 
victory gained. We hope all our readers will be greatly 
blessed at camp-meetings; but they will still need to watch 
and pray, that they enter not into temptation. 

682 TEMPTATION, Keep Away From 

A winged insect flew under the chimney of our lamp, 
which was not down quite close, but the opening seemed to 


332 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


be very small. Yet he found his way under, and though 
exceedingly uncomfortable from the heat, he could not find 
his way out. We got him out as soon as possible; but it 
was too late. The poor thing fluttered and died. Human 
beings act in a similar manner towards sin. God has put 
it well-nigh beyond their reach. He has given them a 
conscience that rises up against it. He has so hedged 
them about with gracious providences that it requires a 
special effort to get at it. But they have forced their way 
through all restraints and come so near the burning fires 
of hell that they have scorched their wings, and if in infinite 
mercy they are saved from death, it is to crawl about where 
once they mounted up with wings as eagles. 

Keep as far as possible from temptation. 


583 TESTIMONY, A Means of Salvation 

Testimony is a God-ordained means of the salvation of 
souls. In his last message to his disciples before his as¬ 
cension, Christ said: “Ye shall be witnesses unto me both 
in Jerusalem, and in all Judsea, and in Samaria, and unto 
the uttermost part of the earth” (Acts 1:8). After his 
ascension Christ said to Saul of Tarsus: “I have appeared 
unto thee for this purpose, to make thee a minister and a 
witness both of these things which thou hast seen, and of 
those things in which I will appear unto thee” (Acts 26: 
16.) Then, to impress upon us more strongly the impor¬ 
tance of testimony in carrying on the work of God, we are 
introduced to the glorified throng, and made acquainted with 
the secret of their victorious career. “And they overcame 
him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their 
testimony” (Rev. 12:11). 

Testimony is a statement of some fact of which we 
have personal knowledge. When it* falls into disuse in a 
church it is because preacher or people, or—as is often the 
case—both, have lost their experience of saving grace. That 
is, they have backslidden. It requires much more grace to 
testify honestly than it does to preach honestly. A man 
may preach what he believes to be true; and may have 
help in doing it, though he does not live up to his own 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


333 


preaching. But he can not testify to the possession of 
saving grace unless he is under its influence. Preachers 
who have never been born of the Spirit can preach powerful 
doctrinal and practical sermons, but they can not give any 
such testimony as Paul did before Agrippa and Festus. To 
bear testimony so it may be believed and felt, one must be 
filled with the Spirit of God. 

584 TESTIMONY, koly Ghost, Needed 

If there was more Holy Ghost testimony in our meet¬ 
ings, the work would move on better. Those who testify 
would be blessed and strengthened, and those who hear 
would be convicted and encouraged. Much of the work done 
in revivals is done through testimony. 

Benjamin Pomeroy gives an account of an old infidel 
lecturer, who attended a powerful revival that took place 
under his labors. “These are the very words he uttered: 
‘I can stand that man’s preaching; I have arguments to meet 
him; but I can’t stand these boys.’ Here he wept visibly, 
and in a broken way continued to say, ‘When I was a boy, 
I prayed like these, and felt as they do; but now’— Here 
he stopped short, with a sensation through the house, for no 
one suspected that he ever had prayed.” 

Let us preach so as to beget a spirit of testimony among 
the people; and let us not be so lengthy in our exercises 
that there will be no time for testimony. 

585 THANKFUL to Others 

It would add greatly to our own happiness to express 
freely to our fellow men our thankfulness for favors they 
bestow upon us. Even where we derive no real benefit from 
an act of kindness done for us, yet if a disposition to serve 
us has been shown, we should feel grateful; and should 
freely express our gratitude. It would be a blessing to us 
and an encouragement to others. We have known instances 
where valuable, useful articles have been given to a preacher, 
not as salary, but as presents, and yet he not make the 
slightest recognition of them. The well-meaning donors 
could not tell whether he felt pleased or insulted. It is 


334 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


no wonder that such preachers are poorly cared for, and 
leave their circuits in debt. When you feel grateful to 
any one, express it, not in a cold, formal, polite “Thanks,” 
but with a hearty, sincere, I thank you, or some similar ex¬ 
pression. Cold politeness is one thing; true affection is 
quite another. Be ye thankful. 

586 THANKSGIVING 

Paul tells us to make our requests known to God with 
thanksgiving. The sails of the ship cost little, compared with 
the rest of the ship. But they are of great importance to a 
sailing vessel. A ship may be steered toward Liverpool, but 
is not likely to reach there unless its sails are spread. So 
thanksgiving adds wings to our prayers, and impels them on 
to the throne of God. A devout spirit is a thankful spirit. 
Notice how full the Psalms are of expressions of praises to 
God. In the worst calamities there is still something to be 
thankful for. The father of John and Charles Wesley, see¬ 
ing the parsonage and all their earthly substance burning up, 
was full of thankfulness that his wife and all the children 
were saved. Let us cultivate a thankful spirit. “The Lord 
will command his lovingkindness in the daytime, and in the 
night his song shall be with me, and my prayer unto the God 
of my life” (Ps. 42:8). 

587 TIME, Improvement of 

“But this I say, brethren, the time is short” (1 Cor. 
7:29). This is true of the longest life. It is soon gone. 
But it is long enough, if properly improved, to permit us to 
make all needed preparations for eternity. Yet many, when 
urged to attend to the interests of the soul, say they “have 
no time to attend to such matters.” Thus the more im¬ 
portant is made to give place to the less important. The 
temporary is given preference to the eternal. 

• 

“He that lacks time to mourn lacks time to mend. 

Eternity mourns that, ’Tis an ill cure 

For life’s worst ills, to have no time to feel them. 

Where sorrow’s held intrusive and turned out, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


335 


There wisdom will not enter, nor true power, 

Nor aught that dignifies humanity.” 

Take time to read your Bible, to pray, to meditate, to 
get and keep your heart right with God. These worldly 
interests to which you give so much thought and attention 
will concern you but a little while. Be concerned mainly 
about the welfare of your soul. See that you do not leave 
this world a homeless wanderer, to find an everlasting abode 
with lost spirits in perdition. 

588 TOBACCO 

That the habitual use of tobacco gradually undermines 
the physical constitution there is not the slightest doubt. 
Many are killed by it in the prime of life. Those who use 
it more moderately and live longer become prematurely 
old. 

Reader, let tobacco alone. If you are already its slave, 
be its slave no longer. Escape for your life. Fugitives 
from sin of every kind are safe in the Canaan of Perfect 
Love. Tear off your fetters and accept the freedom which 
Christ offers you. 

There is no filthiness in Heaven. 

589 TOBACCO: A Destroyer 

Tobacco conquers the conquerors of men. It is not over¬ 
come by strategy, or killed by the sword. .The heaviest 
artillery makes no impression upon the ramparts of tobacco. 
It is not put down by diplomacy, nor are its ravages ap¬ 
peased by concessions. It is the greatest foe to its greatest 
friends, and treats its patrons, whether they be obscure or 
eminent, with the utmost barbarity. 

Says Brother G. W. Clark: “This foul destroyer makes 
no distinction between high, low, rich or poor. Among its 
conquered and slain victims are such men as Senator Car¬ 
penter, Senator Hill, General McClellan, General Sheridan 
and General Grant; and the amiable and promising ‘Fritz,’ 
Emperor of Germany. What a serious loss to Germany, 
where so much was expected from his reign! These able 


336' 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


men might have been in most robust health, on duty, and 
enjoying active, wholesome life to-day, but for the useless 
indulgence of the poisonous and pernicious weed.” 

It is not enough for the church to pass resolutions against 
tobacco. It should not be permitted to make its dirty nest 
in the Christian church. 

If you have never touched it, let it alone. If you are 
its slave, assert your freedom in Christ, and submit no 
longer to its filthy bondage. 

That the nicotine of tobacco is a virulent poison is not 
disputed. It makes fearful ravages upon the nervous sys¬ 
tem. Men of stolid temperaments may use it for a long 
time with apparent impunity, but gifted, active, bright men, 
if they begin to use it, soon are overpowered by it. 

That staunch reformer, G. W. Clark, says further: “My 
next-door neighbor died suddenly of tobacco paralysis. A 
young man in New York, only thirty years of age, not long 
ago a victim of the cigar, was stricken with tobacco 
paralysis, and after fearfully and helplessly struggling 
for several days and nights, died a most pitiful death. 
His friends and six doctors did all in their power to save 
him, but in vain. 

590 TOBACCO Nuisance 

The tobacco nuisance is well-nigh intolerable. A gen¬ 
eral outcry should be made against it. Stop at a hotel, 
and you are. fortunate if you can get a room which to¬ 
bacco smoke from the halls does not reach. Go on a 
boat, and the sickening odor meets you at every turn. 
Walk on the streets of the city, and you can not avoid 
breathing air vitiated by tobacco. Take a seat in the cars, 
and you find the floor befouled by tobacco chewers. Take 
a sleeping car, and the iron passageway is filled with 
smokers; and the foul, poisonous air is carried through 
the car, and if you stay there you are compelled to breathe 
it. We refuse to take such sleeping cars, and if all who 
do not use tobacco would do the same, a reform would 
speedily be effected. Let the nuisance be banished from 
decent society. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


337 


t>91 TOBACCO Users 

We must in all our societies enforce our rules against 
using tobacco. We do not want a single tobacco-user in 
the Free Methodist church. However he may agree with 
us in other respects, if he will not cleanse himself from 
thi$ “filthiness of the flesh,” he should have no place among 
us. We have no smoking-room in our church. If one will 
insist upon defiling with the fumes of tobacco the air in 
which he moves, a clean church is no place for him. 

The prevailing use of tobacco threatens great harm to 
our country. The medical director of our Naval Academy, 
at Annapolis, Dr. Gibon, says in his report for 1881, “The 
most important matter in the health history of the students 
is that relating to tobacco, and its interdiction is absolutely 
essential to their future health and usefulness. In this 
View I have been sustained by my colleagues, and all sani¬ 
tarians in civil and military life, whose views I have been 
able to obtain.” 

592 TONGUE Employed by Satan 

Satan is the accuser of the brethren (Rev. 12:10). He 
earns his title from the work in which he is constantly 
engaged, day and night. In this work he employs all his 
forces—his raw recruits and his veteran soldiers. Those 
who engage in this work may belong to the church, but they 
do not belong to Christ. The most dangerous enemies are 
those who wave the banner and wear the uniform of friends. 

The Psalmist gives as an unfailing mark of one that shall 
live in Heaven: “He that backbiteth not with his tongue, 
nor doeth evil to his neighbour, nor taketh up a re¬ 
proach against his neighbour” (Ps. 15:3). See among what 
class Paul places those who defame others: “Full of envy, 
murder, debate, deceit, malignity; whisperers, backbiters, 
haters of God, despiteful, proud, boasters” (Rom. 1:29, 30). 

And St. James says: “If any man among you seem to be 
religious, and bridleth not his tongue, but deceiveth his own 
heart, this man’s religion is vain” (Jas. 1:26). He is not 
speaking of outsiders, but of professed Christians. 

Reader, do you bridle your tongue? 


338 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


593 TONGUE, Governing the 

Did you ever consider what importance the Bible at¬ 
taches to the governing of the tongue? The Savior says 
that the one only sin for which there is no forgiveness, 
either in this world or in the world to come, is a sin com¬ 
mitted by the tongue. Again, “But I say unto you, That 
every idle word that men shall speak,' they shall give 
account thereof in the day of judgment” (Matt. 12:36). 
Every false, injurious word will add to one’s condemnation. 
The Psalmist says of him who shall dwell in God’s holy 
hill, that is, go to Heaven, that “he backbiteth not with 
his tongue, nor doeth evil to his neighbor, nor taketh up a 
reproach against his neighbor” (Ps. 15:3). How is it 
with you in this respect? Do you wound the reputation 
of others behind their backs? Do you, when one comes 
to you with a reproach against your neighbor, ‘take it up 
and carry it to the next one? “If any man offend not 
in word, the same is a perfect man, and able also to bridle 
the whole body.” 

594 TONGUE, The, Must be Controlled 

We can not maintain a good Christian experience with¬ 
out being careful of our words. An unbridled tongue will 
soon carry its possessor beyond the controlling influences 
of the Spirit of God. Words are weighty. They shape the 
destiny. The Psalmist and the Savior agree that our fate 
hangs upon our words. He that shall dwell in God's holy 
hill is one that speaketh the truth in his heart—one that 
backbiteth not with his tongue, nor taketh up a reproach 
against his neighbor. And the Savior says that the one sin 
which hath never forgiveness, neither in this world, nor in 
the world to come, is that committed by the tongue 
(Matt. 12:32). 

St. James compares the tongue to the little helm with 
which great ships are turned about; and says, “If any man 
offend not in word, the same is a perfect man.' and able to 
bridle the whole body” (Jas. 3:2). God hears all our 
words. No injunction of secrecy can keep them from reach¬ 
ing his ear. They are recorded in imperishable characters 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


339 


in his book of remembrance. Let us then give heed to 
our words. 

595 TRANCES, Tailings, Etc., Not Always of God 

Trances, fallings, visions, revelations, may be of God; 
but they may be of the devil. Because a person’s experi¬ 
ence has been good, and his life correct, it does not follow 
that everything supernatural that may be manifested in him 
is of God. There are many avenues through which Satan 
may enter the heart of one who has been truly called of God. 
He entered the heart of Judas through covetousness. To-day 
he enters some through the same door; others through pride 
of appearance, others through spiritual pride. Satan whis¬ 
pers to an ignorant person that, if he will only yield himself 
to a blind impulse, he will become useful and famous; and, 
if he listens to the suggestion, a demon from the pit enters 
the open door and begins his operations. The deviations of 
one thus possessed, from the right course, may at first be 
so slight that the most spiritual hardly dare hint a fear 
that he may be going wrong. He is so wonderfully operated 
upon, and in the main so nearly right, that many honest 
ones are led away and become his partizans. As soon as a 
following is secured, the mask is gradually thrown off, and 
practises are indulged in, and defended, that are in direct 
conflict with the plain teaching of the Word of God. The 
strange thing in such cases is, that those who begin to follow 
him in all honesty, keep right along and follow him in his 
crooked ways. At last they are led forth with the workers 
of iniquity. “Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the 
spirits whether they are of God: because many false proph¬ 
ets are gone out into the world” (1 John 4:1). 

590 TREASURES, Secure the Right Kind of 

The contrast which Christ draws between laying up 
treasures on earth and treasures in Heaven shows that 
there is an incompatibility between them. One can not at 
the same time do both. He must deliberately choose which 
he will do. “Ye cannot serve God and mammon.” Great 


340 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


earthly treasures make dying hard. Cardinal Mazarin had 
acquired great riches, but he said, when he came to die, 
as he looked around on the magnificent works of art which 
with great pains he had collected, “All that must be left 
behind!” And, turning around, he added, “And that, too! 
What trouble I have had to obtain all these things! I shall 
never see them more, where I am going!” 

Earthly treasures, however prized, must be left behind! 
Works of charity and beneficence, done out of love to Christ, 
follow one to the eternal world. “Lay not up for yourselves 
treasures on earth; but lay up for yourselves treasures in 
heaven.” 

597 TRIED MEN More Dependable 

When the door of salvation was opened to the Gentiles, 
it was through Cornelius, a devout man of irreproachable 
character. God often uses, to carry on his work, men who 
have been notoriously wicked and profligate, but have been 
truly converted. Yet we do not call to mind a single in¬ 
stance of such a person who was used to inaugurate any 
great work. They are too liable to fall, and, in too many 
instances, they become lifted up with their success, lose 
the grace of God from their hearts, and fall into the 
scandalous sins to which they were formerly addicted. 
Many such instances occur to our mind. It becomes us 
all, if we would persevere in the grace of God, to see to it 
that we have the charity that is not puffed up. If there 
is a flaw in a tool of steel, it will not do to put it to too hard 
use; if a tree was broken when young, though it may be 
completely healed over, it is liable to give way at the old 
break, under a severe gale, or even when loaded with pre¬ 
cious fruit. If one who has been notoriously wicked is 
signally used in the salvation of others, do not put him 
forward too fast, or needlessly expose him to temptation. 

Let us walk before the Lord in all humility. “Hearken 
to me, ye that follow after righteousness, ye that seek the 
Lord: look unto the rock tvhence ye are hewn, and to the 
hole of the pit whence ye are digged” (Isa. 51:1). 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


341 


598 TROUBLE, Call Upon God in 

Learn to go to the Lord with all your troubles. He is 
the Lord Almighty. He has power over the physical world 
and over the world of spirits. The laws of nature are his 
laws. The hearts of all men are in his hand. No com¬ 
bination of devils and men can be formed against you that 
he can not break. 

He encourages us to come to him at all times for help. 
“This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved 
him out of all his troubles” (Ps. 34:6). If this had been 
said of the king, you might say, “I am no king.” But it is 
this poor man —an ordinary mortal, way down in the social 
scale. It is not said that he made or read a prayer, but he 
cried. The most illiterate can cry. It is a gift possessed 
by all. God is moved, not by repetitions of fine words, but 
by deep earnestness and sincerity of heart. 

The man was not merely made better by coming to God, 
but his prayer was answered. It was no temporary relief, 
no partial deliverance, which he found, but the Lord saved 
him out of all his troubles. 

When in trouble, it will often help us in getting out, to 
candidly consider how we got in. Was it through our own 
fault? Did it come upon us in consequence of our own sins, 
or our own imprudence? If the cause is in us, the first 
thing to be done is to remove the cause, as far as possible, and 
to humble ourselves before God, and implore his forgiveness. 
If the cause can not be removed, we can ask God to miti¬ 
gate the evils, and give grace to bear them. When Paul 
prayed for the removal of the thorn in the flesh, the answer 
was given: “My grace is sufficient for thee.” An elephant 
can easily carry what would crush a horse. God can so 
multiply our strength that we can bear in triumph what once 
would have driven us to despair. We must not set lim¬ 
itations to his power. He has ways to work deliverance 
that we do not think of. There is one important item in 
a Christian’s education that we are too slow to learn. “And 
we know that all things work together for good to them 
that love God.” 


342 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


599 TRUTHFULNESS 

One sign of a growth in grace is a growing love for 
truth. The nearer we get to the Lord, the more tender 
the conscience becomes over making a false impression upon 
the minds of others. A truly sanctified person can not allow 
himself in any misstatement, or prevarication or exaggera¬ 
tion. Jeremy Taylor, in his Rules of Holy Living, is thus 
specific: “Lie not at all, neither in a little thing nor in a 
great, neither in substance nor in the circumstance, neither 
in word nor in deed; that is, pretend not what is false, 
cover not what is true; and let the measure of your affirma¬ 
tion or denial be the understanding of your contractor; for 
he that deceives the buyer or the seller, by speaking what 
is true in a sense not intended or understood by the other, is 
a liar and a thief. For in bargains you are to avoid not 
only what is false, but that also which deceives.” 

600 UNCHARITABLE SPIRIT 

An uncharitable spirit destroys the unity of the Spirit. 
To allow a spirit of malice, or envy, or jealousy to have 
the slightest influence upon us, so as to control in any de¬ 
gree our words or actions, will separate us at once from 
those who live in the Spirit. We may not know what 
ails us; we may think that nothing ails us; but we feel 
that something has come between us and our brethren. The 
fellowship has gone. We do not care about going to the 
social meetings. The preaching does not sound to us as it 
did. We lose our relish for reading the Bible. A disposition 
to put the worst construction on everything has come in, 
and the unity of the Spirit is destroyed. Judas separated 
from the disciples as soon as he permitted Satan to enter 
his heart. Be careful, then, how you give place to an un¬ 
charitable spirit. If you continue to yield to it, it will lead 
you at last to perdition. 

601 UNCTION, Divine, Need of 

Divine unction is more essential to the success of the 
preacher than anything else, or all things else. Neither 
talent, nor learning, nor a fine address, nor all combined, 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


343 


can take its place. It will draw a congregation under adverse 
circumstances. We have seen raw boys, awkward in man¬ 
ners, draw crowds in a large city which they could not 
draw when they became able and distinguished preachers 
but had lost a good degree of the unction. We have seen 
people moved more under the reading of a hymn with the 
unction, than under a carefully prepared, powerful sermon 
without it. We do not underestimate the advantage of 
study, but we can not overestimate the importance to the 
preacher of the unction from the Holy One (1 John 2:20). 

602 UNCTION Necessary to Fruitfulness 

A lack of moisture deprives the richest soils of their fer¬ 
tility. It is in vain that the plowing is done in good order, 
and the planting in due season, if the soil remains dry and 
parched. So a lack of unction makes the most convincing 
sermon barren of all good results. A discourse may be full 
of the seeds of truth, but unless they are wet up they will 
never bring forth fruit. It was the deep feeling which ac¬ 
companied Paul’s exhortations which made them so power¬ 
ful. “I ceased not,” he says, .“to warn every one night and 
day with tears.” Such warnings are always effective, when 
the tears are the genuine expression of real feeling. But 
assumed sympathy disgusts and repels. What we all need, 
in order to reach others, is the constraining love of Christ 
He who is impelled by that is not likely to go too fast or too 
far. Natural drouths are beyond our reach, but spiritual 
drouths we may avert. It is time to seek the Lord, till he 
come and rain righteousness upon you. 

603 UNION, In, is Strength 

Dissension is weakness—in union there is strength. Jona¬ 
than was valiant, but to defeat the Philistines he must have 
his armor-bearer with him. Christ gave to each of the 
twelve miraculous power; but he sent them out two by 
two. The largest society, divided and quarreling, is weak, 
and has no strength to save souls: the smallest, united in 
confidence and love, is mighty to storm and carry in holy 
triumph the very citidels of hell. 


344 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


On the day of Pentecost the disciples were all with one 
accord in one place. If a hundred and twenty could be thus 
united to-day in self-abandonment, and in waiting with will¬ 
ing minds and expectant hearts for the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, mighty results would follow. An electric battery 
is powerful in proportion to the number of jars which are 
united: so also are spiritual batteries. One hundred and 
twenty human hearts, throbbing with love to God and love 
to men, and waiting together for the baptism of the Holy 
Ghost, would bring down such electrical shocks as would 
shake the greatest city. 

604 UNION SEEVICES Not Desirable 

There are some overtures for Christian unity that need 
to be treated with great caution. Some of the most zeal¬ 
ous members of other churches, who have always kept 
aloof from us, and never failed to use their influence 
against us, all at once, when God is pouring out his Spirit 
among us, and converting sinners, appear uncommonly 
friendly. They come to our meetings, go forward to the 
altar to labor with penitents, and contribute their share 
towards making a “noisy meeting,” which elsewhere they 
condemn. The closest preaching they seem to enjoy and 
indorse. They receive a cordial welcome, and make them¬ 
selves at home; but when the revival is ended, they show 
that all which they have done is for the purpose of en¬ 
abling them, the more easily, to lead off the respectable 
and influential of the converts, and get them to join their 
church. When this is accomplished, they never come near 
us, until an opportunity to do the same thing over is again 
presented. By such means, the fruits of extensive revivals, 
which our people have labored hard to promote, have been 
almost wholly lost to our church. This we would not de¬ 
plore, did the converts thus led off remain true to their 
convictions, and “stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ 
hath [set them] free.” But they do not. The silken fet¬ 
ters of fashion are fastened upon them by degrees, and 
they become mere worldly professors; or the hoodwink is 
drawn over them, and they are led into the lodge, and thus 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


345 


again entangled with the yoke of bondage. Instead of pro¬ 
moting the work of God, they help build up a formal, world¬ 
ly church, which deceives souls to their eternal undoing. 
And they are themselves personally in greater danger of 
eternal damnation than when they were in the world, be¬ 
cause they are resting in a false security. 

It may seem almost uncivil not to accept the proffered 
services of those who come over to labor with you in a re¬ 
vival; but if they have stayed away till your meeting has 
become a decided success, you had better get along with¬ 
out them. Depend upon it, they have come in to help you 
shout on the victory, only that they may gather the spoils. 
They will not be scrupulous about dividing, but they will 
take all they can. They may cry out for union, but they 
mean absorption. They may soothe you with their tongues, 
but it is that they may swallow you the more easily. 

Our work is so different from that now done by the pop¬ 
ular churches, that honest souls who really desire to pro¬ 
mote our work will unite with us. Let us avoid all en¬ 
tangling alliances. 

605 UNITY OF EFFORT Essential 

To carry on the work of God successfully in any com¬ 
munity, those who are engaged in its promotion must be 
united. The Bible lays great stress upon this. Christ 
sent out his disciples two by two. “Again I say unto you, 
That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any 
thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my 
Father which is in heaven.” Unity in faith and in effort 
is essential to achieve any great results. Those who are 
united to Christ should be careful to be united to each other. 
Guerrillas, however bold they may be, never conquer a fort, 
or subdue a country. They differ from robbers mainly 
in the fact that they subsist by plundering such of their 
enemies as they may find defenseless. The guerrilla system 
of Christian warfare builds no churches, establishes no 
schools, plants no missions, makes few if any converts from 
the world. It seeks its prey in the churches. Men who 
are so self-willed that they can not work with any others, 


346 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


can not work with Christ. They do not gather with him, 
but scatter abroad. 

606 UNITY OF SPIRIT Urged 

“Be of the same mind one toward another.” Have such 
a love for the cause of Christ that you will be glad to 
enlist as many as you can for its promotion. You can not, 
for any length of time, live religion alone. Before you 
go far in the way to Zion you will persuade some others to 
go with you. Christianity is social in its nature. Its vo¬ 
taries instinctively flock together. The Apostle likens them 
to the body. “If one member suffers, every member suffers 
with it.” If one member of the body becomes so dis¬ 
ordered that it does not do its appropriate part for the 
general welfare, then disorder and general distress follow. 
Therefore, do all you can to keep the unity of the Spirit. 
Bear undeserved reproach rather than make a division and 
begin a quarrel. Return a soft answer for insulting words. 
“Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of 
another, love as brethren, be pitiful, be courteous: not ren¬ 
dering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise 
blessing” (1 Pet. 3:8, 9). 

607 UNREASONABLE MEN 

We are greatly struck with Paul’s request to the brethren 
to pray for him that he might be “delivered from unrea¬ 
sonable men.” He must have suffered a great deal from 
them. He classes them with wicked men. An unreason¬ 
able man in the church may stand in the way of the work 
of God more than a wicked man does, who is out of the 
church. 

If the great Apostle was so desirous of being delivered 
from them, then an ordinary preacher should be forgiven 
for not wanting to fall into their hands. No preacher can 
satisfy them. They make trouble wherever they go. The 
more talent and zeal and piety they have, the more capable 
they are of wrecking a society. They can neutralize the 
best efforts of the most capable preacher. Brother, are you 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


347 


unreasonable? The cure is humble love; for the meek God 
will guide in judgment. 

608 UNSAVED Sometimes Employed by God 

Some persons serve as scaffoldings for the lower story 
of the temple of the Lord, and, as the building goes up, 
they are laid aside. If they were better material, they 
would go into the building. But they are so coarse and 
cross-grained that they can not even be planed—much less 
polished. 

God often uses selfish, self-willed, covetous, self- 
conceited men to open the way for his work. He gives 
them another opportunity to get right, and if they do not 
improve it, he leaves them to themselves. Like Noah’s 
carpenters, they help build for the salvation of others, while 
they themselves are not saved. Reader, are you one of 
this class? Ask God to help you; for unless he does you will 
not be willing to acknowledge it if you are. 

609 UNSAVED, Why Delay? 

If you are unsaved, and are unwilling to die unsaved, 
why do you remain unsaved a single day? What are you 
waiting for? A more favorable opportunity? “Behold, now 
is the accepted time.” For some one to pray for you? “He 
ever liveth to make intercession for us.” You are included 
in “us.” There is more efficacy in his intercessions than in 
the prayers of all the saints. “Wherefore he is able also 
to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him.” 
So all you need to do is to come. Come just as you are. 
Come confessing and forsaking your sins. Come renouncing 
the world—its ambitions and pleasures and honors. Come, 
above all, renouncing yourself—all claims to yourself—all 
dependence upon your morality—and throw yourself with 
all the energy of despair upon the mercy of God in Christ 
Jesus. Come believing that he is a rewarder of them who 
diligently seek him—and that you do receive the things you 
desire when you pray—and the arms of infinite love will 
embrace you: you shall be saved. 


348 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


610 VERACITY 

Veracity is one of the cardinal virtues. Christianity re¬ 
quires of its adherents supreme allegiance to truth. The 
only instance in which the apostles used their miraculous 
powers for the injury of others was when a man and his 
wife were struck dead for lying. “All liars shall have their 
part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone” 
(Rev. 21:8). This includes religious liars, liars in the 
church, liars in the pulpit. We have been shocked to see 
some who profess the highest state of grace appear in¬ 
capable of stating correctly something with which they did 
not agree. Where this is done in reporting what one hears 
there may be some excuse; but what possible excuse can 
there be when one has a written or printed statement be¬ 
fore him? Let us see to it that we have the truth in the 
inward parts. This God desires. 

611 VICTORIOUS LIFE Brings Triumphant Death 

If you would die a triumphant death, you must have 
victory in life. He who conquers the devil, and sin in all 
its forms, has nothing to fear from death. 

John Knox had a stormy time through life. But he 
never quailed at all the terrors which popery could inflict. 
He never made a compromise wdth principle. “Few men 
were ever exposed to more dangers, or underwent such 
hardships.” He was imprisoned; he was banished; he 
lived for several years an outlaw; but he died in peace, in 
the sixty-seventh year of his age. 

When he saw that his end w r as come, he ordered his 
coffin made. He prayed, “Come, Lord Jesus. Into thy 
hands I commend my spirit. Be merciful, Lord, to thy 
church which thou hast redeemed. Give peace to this af¬ 
flicted commonwealth. Raise up faithful pastors who will 
take charge of thy church. Grant us, Lord, the perfect 
hatred of sin, by the evidence both of thy wrath and mercy.” 

To friends at his bedside he exclaimed in rapture, “I 
have been these last two nights in meditation on the 
troubled state of the church of God, the spouse of Jesus 
Christ, despised of the world but precious in the sight of 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


349 


God. I have called to God for her, and have committed 
her to her head, Jesus Christ. I have fought against spir¬ 
itual wickedness in heavenly places and have prevailed. I 
have been in heaven and have possession. I have tasted 
of the heavenly joys where presently I am.” 

He died without a struggle. As he was laid in the 
grave the regent said: 

“Thebe lies he who never feared the face of man.” 


612 VICTORY Over One’s Self Important 

If you will fight, then fight yourself. What good will 
your victories over others do you? They will only add to 
your pride, that is, add to the probability of your eternal 
damnation. But a complete victory over yourself will bring 
present peace and eternal tiappiness. You may think the 
conflict will be short; but in most cases it will be a pro¬ 
tracted one. The “old man” dies hard. We are too apt to 
underestimate the strength and persistence of the forces 
opposed to us. 

Before you take up arms against your brethren who do 
not think on all subjects as you think they should, get your 
own pride of opinion, and love of admiration, and selfishness, 
subdued. This will have a great tendency to make you 
peaceable towards others. 

“He that is slow to anger is better than the mighty, 
and he that ruleth his spirit than he that taketh a city.” 

613 WAIT UPON THE LORD When Straitened in Circumstances 

If you are in straitened circumstances and need help, 
it is quite likely that the devil will step in before God and 
offer you his assistance. Pie did so by our Savior. When 
he was hungry the devil said to him, “If thou be the Son 
of God, command that these stones be made bread.” That 
is, “Look for the help in a miraculous way, which you may 
easily obtain in a rational way.” This is not God’s order. 
He requires us to go as far as we can, and then he is ready 
to step in with his power. We must plow and plant, and 
God will send the sunshine and the rain. We must set the 


350 


VUNGENT TRUTHS 


proper example, and give the right instruction, and God 
will send the quickening power of his Spirit. His help 
may be delayed; but it comes when we reach the extremity. 
Refuse the devil’s assistance and God will provide. 

614 WALKING IN THE LIGHT, Necessity of 

To keep the blessing of God on our souls we must walk in 
the light. And light never changes. What was light is 
light. We may get additional light, but it only confirms 
the belief that we did right in walking in the light which 
God previously gave us. He who is truly sanctified to God 
is never sorry that at the very beginning of his Christian 
life he repented thoroughly and brought forth fruits meet 
for repentance. He who in building lays a good foun¬ 
dation, passes on, but he does not go from the roof to the 
cellar to tear down the wall on which the building rests. 
So he who builds up a true Christian character, does not 
take back what he has given to God. To do this is to 
go back, and not forward; it is to tear down, and not to 
build up. 

It is astonishing what a change takes place in one’s 
physical appearance, when he looks back, and begins to draw 
back. The light goes from his eye, the divine glory from 
his countenance, the elasticity from his step, and the in¬ 
spirited ring from his voice. He is dark and gloomy, or light 
and trifling, severe or over-lenient, or all by turns. He is 
variable and inconsistent, and no one can tell where he will 
drift; but there is great danger that he will wander in 
the blackness of darkness forever. O beloveds, walk while 
you have the light, lest darkness come upon you. 

615 WANDERINGS in the Wilderness 

The journey of the Israelites from Egypt to the prom¬ 
ised land lasted forty years. There was no necessity for it. 
It might have been made in a few weeks. The wanderings 
in the wilderness might have been avoided. So there is no 
need that a Christian should be forty years, or one year, 
in reaching the Canaan of perfect love— 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


351 


“The land of corn, and wine, and oil, 

Favored with God’s peculiar smile, 

With every blessing blest.” 

Many of the battles the ordinary Christian has to fight, and 
of the difficulties he has to encounter, are the direct 
result of disobedience and unbelief. Crosses there always 
will be, and burdens to carry; but to a determined soul, 
trusting in God, they are easily borne. Beloved, give up 
your wanderings by giving yourself wholly to God. Claim 
the exceeding great and precious promises that are given 
you to enable you to become a partaker of the Divine na¬ 
ture. Meet the conditions. Bring yourself to a complete 
surrender to all the will of God. Make all the confessions 
that God calls for. Throw yourself on the atoning blood, 
and believe to the salvation of your soul from all inbred 
sin. 

616 WARNED, Every Man Should Be 

No one can become truly religious unless religion has a 
beginning in his soul. The Bible says, “The fear of the Lord 
is the beginning of wisdom.” Much of the religion of the 
day is purely sentimental, because it has no foundation. It 
does not rest on the fear of God. The popular preaching of 
the day lays the whole stress upon the love of God. The 
New York Sun, a well-informed paper, says: 

“The whole doctrine of everlasting punishment has be¬ 
come unpopular among Protestants of recent years. It is 
not preached as of old. Refined and polite congregations 
regard a clergyman as coarse and boorish, if he thunders 
forth the warnings with which every sermon of the past 
used to end. ‘Hell’ and ‘damnation’ are words they require 
to be expunged from the pulpit vocabulary.” 

This is the natural result of filling up the churches with 
unconverted members. Those who have not themselves fled 
from the damnation of hell do not like to listen to words of 
warning. But the man of God hears a voice within him, 
saying: “Son of man, I have made thee a watchman unto the 
house of Israel: therefore hear the word at my mouth and 
give them warning from me” (Ezek. 3:17). And he obeys. 


352 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


617 WARNINGS, Faithful 

John the Baptist preached that men should flee from the 
wrath to come. Two-thirds of the warnings to men to 
keep out of hell, expressed in the New Testament, were 
uttered by the Savior. Paul said he preached, “warning 
every man.” 

618 WISDOM, As Well as Zeal, Necessary 

To insure success it is not enough that our cause is 
good and our motives pure. We must act wisely if we 
would win. There was a time when the Protestants of 
France were a large and influential portion of the popu¬ 
lation. They were gaining ground rapidly, and bid fair 
soon to be in the ascendency. But a few injudicious move¬ 
ments led to their overthrow; and since then Protestantism 
has never been able to regain a foothold in that fair land. 
Their principles were right, but their policy was wrong. 
A good cause may easily be defeated by the injudicious 
measures of its friends. 

Too little attention is paid by some real Christians to 
the charge of Christ, “Be ye therefore wise as serpents, 
and harmless as doves.” Many seem to think that it is 
enough to be harmless. They lay little or no stress upon the 
injunction to be wise. Having settled it that a course of 
action is right, we should seriously consider the question, 
“Is it wise,” It is not so much for lack of zeal as for lack 
of wisdom that the cause of God makes comparatively such 
slow progress among us. We need to pray more for wis¬ 
dom, and to put in active exercise all the sense and grace 
we have or can possibly get. Many, because the object at 
which they aim is good, will not see that the course they 
are taking will defeat that object. 

“But the wisdom that is from above is first pure, then 
peaceable, gentle, and easy to be intreated, full of mercy and 
good fruits, without partiality and without hypocrisy.” 

619 WISDOM Indispensable 

Although grace effects a perfect revolution in one’s moral 
character, yet the bent of the natural disposition is still 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


353 


seen when the work of grace is fulfilled. The amiable John 
becomes the loving disciple; the impetuous Peter, the bold 
preacher of Pentecost; the zealous persecutor, Saul, becomes 
the indefatigable apostle Paul, who carries the gospel to 
the ends of the world as known at that time. 

Those who would labor for souls, must learn to work 
along the line of the natural disposition. To split rails, 
you must follow the grain of the log. To polish wood, 
you must work with the grain; or, if you are obliged to 
cross it, you must have sharp tools, and take off but little 
at a time. 

In short, whether a man has little learning or much 
learning, if he would win souls he must have wisdom . This is 
indispensable. He must know where to strike. It is the 
well-directed blow that does execution. “He that winnetli 
souls is tcise.” 

620 WISDOM, True 

The men whom I consult most frequently, and on whose 
opinions I place the greatest reliance, are not men of learn¬ 
ing. They know but little of books, they never had any 
great advantages of schools, or of society. But they are 
meek and humble followers of Jesus. And God says, “The 
meek he will guide in judgment.” They are men of prayer. 

One may have a great amount of learning, and but lit¬ 
tle wisdom; and he may have much wisdom and little learn¬ 
ing. If a person has but one, heavenly wisdom is to be 
preferred. He may have both. Only do not make the mis¬ 
take of supposing that this wisdom can be gained from books. 
It can not. Books and schools have no necessary connection 
with it. If you would have practical wisdom to guide you 
in important matters, you must come to God directly for it. 
Your consecration to God’s will must be complete. You 
must have no doubts, no misgivings. “Every one that asketh 
[in this manner] receiveth.” 

621 WISE in Their Own Eyes 

God promises to save us from folly; but if we still persist 
in foolishness he does not promise to save us from the con- 


354 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


sequences of folly. If we can not swim, and will go into 
water over our heads, we must expect to drown. If we 
would look to the Lord more for direction, w r e would not 
have to cry to him so much for help. We have hard travel¬ 
ing because w r e take the wrong road. If a woman will marry 
a drinking man, she must bear the abusive treatment of a 
drunkard. “Woe unto them that are w r ise in their own eyes, 
and prudent in their own sight! Woe unto them that are 
mighty to drink wine, and men of strength to mingle strong 
drink: w"hich justify the wicked for rew r ard, and take away 
the righteousness of the righteous from him! Therefore 
as the fire devoureth the stubble, and the flame consumeth 
the chaff, so their root shall be as rottenness, and their 
blossom shall go up as dust: because they have cast away 
the law of the Lord of hosts, and despised the word of the 
Holy One of Israel” (Isa. 5:21-24). 

622 WOMAN Uplifted by the Gospel 

In all nations w"here the true God is not known and 
worshiped, woman is degraded. Generally she is in a, state 
of servitude. Often, the rights that are conceded to a man- 
slave are denied the free-born woman. 

Christianity concedes to her the same rights that it does 
to man. But many men are slow to see it. The “old man” 
loves to play the tyrant. The “new man” does not, t>ut is 
ready to be the servant of all. The measure of love that 
Christian husbands are to have for their wives, is that 
w r hich Christ manifested for his church w"hen he gave him¬ 
self for it. This pure, deep love will make any husband 
considerate of his wdfe and* careful to promote her piety, 
and her happiness. It will not allow" any man to domineer 
over his w T ife. 

623 WOMEN: Earnest Gospel Workers 

“I intreat thee also, true yokefellow, help those women 
which laboured wdth me in the gospel” (Phil. 4:3). The 
word here translated “laboured” deserves particular no¬ 
tice. In the original it is sunethleson. From the latter 
part of the word comes our English wmrd athletics. It de- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


355 


notes the highest pitch of exertion; an athlete is one who 
has great strength and power of endurance, and who, upon 
occasion, exerts all his strength and skill. 

So there were women who contended side by side with 
the great Apostle in the conflict against the powers of 
darkness, and who endured hardness as good soldiers of 
Jesus Christ. 

The gospel has exalted woman and she. in turn, has been 
from the first ready to do and bear and suffer for the 
gospel. 

“Not she with traitor’s kiss her Savior stung, 

Not she denied him with unholy tongue; 

She, while apostles shrank, could danger brave", 

Last at his cross, and earliest at his grave.” 

While the churches generally admit that under the gospel 
dispensation “there is neither Jew nor Greek, there is 
neither bond nor free,” yet they still insist upon it, in the 
bestowment of positions in the church, that there is “male 
and female.” It takes a long while for some who embrace 
the gospel to understand the gospel. 

624 WORD OF GOD, Meditation Upon the 

A man may be perishing of hunger, while a cow is near 
at hand with a bag full of nutriment. But if he would get 
the food he must milk her. So many a soul is starving 
while God’s Word is full of substantial food. But to get 
it he must sit down and, by patient study, draw it out. 
To get benefit from words—even God’s words—we must get 
down to the thoughts which the words are intended to 
convey. We must put our mind on the Scriptures, and then 
we will find in them wisdom and strength. The Psalmist 
said: “Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might 
meditate in thy word” (Ps. 119:148). The good man de¬ 
scribed in the first Psalm is one who meditates on God’s 
law day and night. The Apostle Paul, writing to a young 
minister, charges him: “Meditate upon these things; give 
thyself wholly to them; that thy profiting may appear to 
all” (1 Tim. 4:15). And St. Peter directs young converts: 


356 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


“As newborn babes, desire the sincere milk of the word, 
that ye may grow thereby” (1 Pet. 2:2). 

In no other of his epistles does Paul speak more re¬ 
provingly to those to whom he writes than he does in his 
epistle to the Corinthians. But he begins with words of 
commendation. He shows that he is not in ill-humor with 
them, but is as free to praise their good qualities as he is 
to reprove their faults. What can be more conciliatory 
than the following language: “I thank my God always on 
your behalf, for the grace of God which is given you by 
Jesus Christ; that in every thing ye are enriched by him, 
in all utterance, and in all knowledge” (1 Cor. 1:4, 5). 
He thus prepares himself to speak of their faults in the 
mildest manner possible, and prevents them from enter¬ 
taining the suspicion that he is prejudiced against them, 
and so underestimates their piety. 

How much alienation and hard feeling would be pre¬ 
vented if, in reproving others, we took a similar course! 
How much more good is effected by reproofs when they 
fall upon hearts softened by kindness, than they do when 
they are discharged at hearts hardened by a harsh manner 
and cruel words! 

625 WORDS, Careless 

For a careless word a soul may be lost. For a neglect 
of duty, some precious soul may be found on the left hand 
in the day of judgment. 

626 WORDS, Pure 

The words of the pure are pleasant words (Prov. 15 : 26). 
They are not impure words: they are not slang words. 
The preacher who uses slang words in the pulpit, or in pri¬ 
vate, gives unmistakable evidence of a lack of grace. If 
he was ever sanctified, he has lost the blessing. He may be 
an ordained minister; but he is a backslider. If he lived 
in Canaan he would talk the language of Canaan. If he 
walked with God he would use God’s words. “Every word 
of God is pure” (Prov. 30: 5). 

If a minister, when he is with the ungodly, adopts 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


357 


their language and tells coarse jokes, or laughs at them, 
and uses slang words, it is because he is in heart one of them. 
He should speedily get to the Lord and get forgiven, and 
have all vanity and vileness taken from his heart; or he 
should quit preaching. He has no business in the pulpit. He 
should never enter it again in his present condition. He 
should cry to the Lord, “Woe is me! for I am undone; be¬ 
cause I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst 
of a people of unclean lips.” He should wait upon the Lord 
until a live coal from off the altar is laid upon his mouth, 
and it is said, “Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine 
iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged” (Isa. 6:7). 

627 WORK, Steady, Required 

No degree of piety or genius can take the place of hard 
work. The successful aspirant for a crown of life is the 
one who makes it a business to serve the Lord. No one 
can tell what he can accomplish until he sets himself 
steadily at work for some worthy object. 

Louis XIV. succeeded to the throne of France when he 
was a young boy. As he grew older he applied himself to 
business. Later in life he wrote concerning this early pe¬ 
riod of his history: “I laid it down as a law to myself, to 
work regularly twice a day. I can not tell you what fruit 
I reaped immediately after this resolution. I felt myself 
rising, as it were, both in mind and courage; I found my¬ 
self quite another being; I discovered in myself what I had 
no idea of, and I joyfully reproached myself for having been 
so long ignorant of it. Then it dawned upon me that I 
was king, and was born to be.” He became the greatest 
monarch of his day. 

Settle down to steady work in God, and you will win at 
last a crown of life. 

628 WORKERS, Develop Your Own 

Do you want help on your circuit? Do not send abroad 
for any till you have seen what workers may be developed 
among your own members. Put them in training. Get 
them to work. Call them out; put them forward. If they 


358 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


are not in a spiritual condition to work, they will find it 
out, if they attempt to work, much sooner than they will 
from any amount of preaching and exhortation. Get them 
blessed clear up to boiling heat, and you will be astonished 
at the talent which will be manifested by some timid, shrink¬ 
ing, unlettered men and women. 

“In the still air the music lies unheard, 

In the rough marble beauty lies unseen.” 

Give the “still air” the proper motion and what ravishing 
music you will hear! Take off the superfluous chips from 
the “rough marble” and what a beautiful statue stands out 
for the admiration of mankind! You have the materials 
and the tools; show yourself “a workman that needeth not 
to be ashamed” by turning out those who do good work for 
God. They will abundantly pay you, by their help, for 
all the pains you have taken with them. You will need 
but little other assistance. 

629 WORKS 

Many appear to think that if they gain Heaven all is 
gained. This is a great mistake. All in Heaven are happy; 
but there are degrees of happiness in Heaven. The farms in 
Illinois are all good and desirable, but some are better than 
others. So any mansion in Heaven is to be striven for: 
but the more ardently we strive, the higher will be our seat 
in glory. This Paul explicitly declares. “There is one glory 
of the sun, and another glory of the moon, and another glory 
of the stars: for one star differeth from another star in 
glory. So also is the resurrection of the dead” (1 Cor. 15: 
41, 42). That is, there is a wide difference in "the glory of 
the stars: so will there be a corresponding difference in 
the glory of men in their eternal state. And this difference 
depends upon their works. Hence the Apostle concludes 
this wonderful chapter with the exhortation: “Therefore, my 
beloved brethren, be ye steadfast, immovable, always abound¬ 
ing in the work of the Lord, forasmuch as ye know that your 
labor is not in vain in the Lord” (1 Cor. 15:58). We may 
work for men and lose our pay, but for everything we do 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


359 


for the Lord we shall receive a glorious recompense. “For 
whosoever shall give you a cup of water to drink, in my 
name, because ye belong to Christ, verily I say unto you, 
he shall not lose his reward” (Mark 9:41). The least we 
do for Christ will, in the end, amount to more than the ut¬ 
most we can do to secure worldly advantages. 

We do well to ponder seriously the weighty words of 
Christ: “And, behold, I come quickly; and my reward is 
with me, to give every man according as his work shall 
be” (Rev. 22:12). 


630 WORKS Rewarded 

Men are rewarded by their fellow men according to 
their position; and often it happens that he who does the 
most work receives the least pay. But it is not so with men 
who work for Christ. They do not receive their recompense 
here. Nor are they paid, in eternity, in proportion to their 
talents, or the offices they filled, but in proportion to the 
honest, hard work they did for Christ. Many who are 
least now will be greatest then. “And whosoever of you 
will be the chiefest, shall be servant of all” (Mark 10:44). 

Do you believe this doctrine, that men are rewarded by 
Christ according to their works? If you do, then you will 
work. You will not want to go where there is least to 
do. You will not be seeking an easy position. You will be 
zealous. You will seek to put into the cause of Christ all 
the time, all the talent, all the property that you possibly can. 
You will not seek to impose upon others the duties which 
you should do. You will fill up each day with usefulness. 

631 WORKS and Rewards 

Twenty-five years ago he was thought to be in danger of 
dying soon of consumption. He was a devoted Christian. He 
looked to the Lord for direction, and was led to go to the 
far West, where the air is dry and the sunshine is seen 
nearly every day in the year. By the blessing of God he re¬ 
gained his health, and prospered in business, and became 
wealthy. His children settled around him and were well off 
as to the things of this world, A few months ago he died in 


360 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


peace and, we trust, went to Heaven. But we have no doubt 
his death would have been more triumphant, and his eternity 
happier, if he had remembered the cause of God in his will. 
But all of -his large property went to his children, who had 
already enough and whose affections appear to be set on 
the world. He made a great mistake: and what is worse, 
his mistake can not be corrected. 

Why are not the words of Christ more generally believed? 
Why do not professed Christians act as if they believed them ? 
“Behold, I come quickly; and my reward is with me, to give 
every man according as his work shall be.” Reader, are you 
doing work which Christ will reward? 

632 WRITING for the Public: Be Sure of Facts 

Do not write unless you have something to say. If 
you undertake to teach others, see that you have a clear 
understanding of the matter about which you write. Be 
sure of the facts. In traveling, I have been directed wrong 
so many times that now, when I approach a man for in¬ 
formation, I ask him first if lie knows the way to the place 
I mention. I find that many people are ready to tell the 
way to a place when they do not know it themselves. It 
is so in writing. Many are forward to shed light upon a 
subject concerning which they are in darkness. At best 
their knowledge of it is extremely superficial. Such should 
study up their subject before they write. 

633 WRITING for the Public: Be Manly 

Truth is truth, no matter by whom it may be uttered 
or written. But the force that it carries with it depends not 
merely upon the manner in which it is presented, but upon 
the character of the one that presents it. Hence, when an 
audience is asked to listen to a stranger, they are informed 
who he is. He does not attempt to speak in disguise. The 
same principle should hold in writing for the public. As a 
rule, one should not write that for which he is afraid, or 
ashamed, to stand responsible. Especially is this true of all 
criticisms upon individuals or associations. If you feel 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


301 


called upon to attack others, do it in an open, manly way. 
Give them a chance for self-defense. Do not shoot in the 
dark. Then do not waste your time by sending us articles 
without your name. Though we may not always publish 
them, yet we must have the name of the writer. 

634 WRITING for the Public: Do Not be Contentious 

The Apostle says, “Avoid foolish questions, and con¬ 
tentions, and strivings about the law; for they are un¬ 
profitable and vain” (Titus 3:9). We are very anxious 
to obey this command. It comes to us with Divine au¬ 
thority. Our own peace, and the prosperity of the church, 
are intimately connected with its observance. The disre¬ 
garding of it will be followed by disastrous •onsequences. 

But we do not see how we can do it without assistance, 
Divine and human. We devoutly ask God for help to follow 
this direction. We also humbly beg our correspondents to 
assist us in this important matter. If they will ask “foolish 
questions,” and will keep up “contentions and strivings 
about the law,” how can we avoid them? So, after you 
have passed favorably upon your communication for the 
Free Methodist, as to its literary character, please examine 
it critically as to its moral character, and if you find it 
comes under either of the above heads, please do not send it. 
Though it may be true, and well written, but if you know 
the decision of an apostle that it is “unprofitable and vain,” 
why should you wish to have it published? 

635 WRITING for the Public: General Suggestions 

When you write for publication, use white paper, black 
ink, and a good pen. Faint pencil marks on tinted paper 
are read with difficulty. 

Do not write in a hurry. See that you use words which 
express your meaning. If you quote from the Bible, or 
from any author, to prove a statement, quote correctly, and 
give the reference, so that your quotations may be verified. 

If you controvert what some one else has written, take 
pains to understand him before you write a word in reply. 


302 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


Put the best construction on what he writes that his lan¬ 
guage will allow. If you state what he wrote, then state 
it in his own words. To put your own construction upon 
the language of another, and then assert that he wrote 
what you say he meant, is not honest; it is not right. To 
do it intentionally is a sin. It is bearing “false witness 
against your neighbour.” If there was more candor there 
would be less controversy. Avoid all offensive personalities. 
Do not use opprobrious epithets. Let your spirit and your 
tone be conciliatory. In your writing, as in everything 
else, “Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without 
which no man shall see the Lord” (Heb. 12:14). 

If your article does not come out in the next number 
of the paper, do not get excited over it, and come to some 
hasty conclusion about it. Wait. Have patience. In due 
season it may appear. But if it does not, bear it. 

636 YIELDING Spirit 

A touchy spirit that can not bear criticism or contra¬ 
diction, is not the Spirit of Christ. We are all liable to mis¬ 
takes. No one is perfect in knowledge, or in judgment. 
But the greatest mistake that any man, young or old, 
can make, is to assume, or to act upon the assumption, 
that he is infallible. Suppose some one does disagree with 
you. That is not conclusive—nay, it is not always even 
presumptive evidence that he is wrong. If it is a father or 
mother, or some one whose means of information on the 
subject are much better than your own, the presumption 
is quite likely to be the other way. Before you say or do 
anything rash, you had better look the ground over, and 
see if they may not be right, and you wrong. Admit in 
your own mind the possibility, at the outset. If you find 
you are wrong, have the frankness to confess it. To give 
up our own wills, and our own opinions, when we should, 
is a most valuable means of grace. To principle we should 
be unwavering in our allegiance. For no consideration 
should we deviate in the least from the purity of the gos¬ 
pel. But when questions of means and measures come up, 
we should be ready to yield our own opinions to the judg- 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


363 


ment of others who are equally interested with us, and 
some of whom, at least, are as competent as ourselves to 
give a sound opinion on the matter. 

637 ZEAL, Intemperate 

Our zeal for the cause of God is always to be suspected 
when it takes the form of zeal against an individual. We 
must see to it that our hatred for heresy does not spring 
from a spirit of envy or jealousy towards the suspected 
heretic. Not but that it may sometimes become our duty 
to call offenders to account. But it should always be done 
in a spirit of meekness and of genuine compassion towards 
the party against whom complaints are made. We should 
always be ready to receive explanations. Whitehead wisely 
says, “Immoderate zeal is always to be suspected; espe¬ 
cially when it appears in pursuing such measures as tend 
to injure or ruin an individual.. A bad cause which orig¬ 
inated from hatred or malice, will almost always be carried 
on with more intemperate zeal and bolder measures than a 
consciousness of acting right will ever produce. The pur¬ 
suit of any end in view, when governed by the passions, is 
always more violent than when directed by reason and 
truth.” 

638 ZEAL Tempered by Grace 

Jehu was full of zeal, but it was not of the right kind. 
He was more ready to slay, than he was to pray. He was 
death on one form of idolatry, while he practised it in an¬ 
other form. He slew with the sword the worshipers of 
Baal, but he himself worshiped the golden calves. “But 
Jehu took no heed to walk in the law of the Lord God of 
Israel with all his heart: for he departed not from the sins 
of Jeroboam, which made Israel to sin” (2 Kings 10:31). 
Yet he boasted of his piety. To one of God’s servants he 
said, “Come with me, and see my zeal for the Lord.” We 
must be careful that we do not serve Jesus with the zeal of 
Jehu. Our uncompromising zeal for the truth must proceed 
from grace and not from grit. We may drive fast, but not 
furiously. We must tell the truth; but it must be in love. 


364 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


We must not ourselves practise in substance what we con¬ 
demn in others. We must be firm, but kind. 

639 ZEAL Must Result from Union with Christ 

No amount of zeal for any reform, however needful, can 
take the place of personal union with Christ. Whatever we 
do, if we would gain Heaven, we must have the Spirit of 
Christ. Jehu was a valiant soldier, a radical reformer. He 
executed faithfully the judgments of the Lord against the 
wicked house of Aliab, yet failed to walk before God with 
a perfect heart. 

We must see to it that we are not reformers after that 
sort. We must ourselves follow the rules of holy living which 
we lay down for others. 

640 ZEAL: Not for Notions, but for Christ 

Indffference in the cause of God is dangerous. Luke¬ 
warmness is damning. An almost Christian is altogether 
out of Christ. We must be full of faith and love, and full 
of burning zeal for the cause of Christ. But we must see 
to it that our zeal is not for our notions, but for Christ, 
and for the salvation of souls. Dr. Stephen Olin says: 
“Individuals, and sometimes churches, are zealous in 
trifles, or even mischief. There is a zeal of God, yet not ac¬ 
cording to knowledge. This does not condemn high degrees 
of zeal, but its misdirection. The more we know of divine 
things, the more zealous shall we be. The Jews had zeal, 
not for the truth, but for their sect. Men are often zealous 
for sect, especially for peculiarities—for trifles which come 
to fill the mind. It is natural to be zealous in false notions 
of religion; and he who takes a notion, a ceremony, for 
Christianity, must swell it into monstrous dimensions in 
order to satisfy his own mind. The more trivial the notion, 
the greater need of zeal. True zeal seeks benevolent ends 
by lawful means—else it is fanaticism. It seeks practical 
ends by wise means—else it is enthusiasm.” 

641 ZEAL, Properly Balanced 

We can not by our zeal for one class of Scriptures atone 
for our neglect of other Scriptures of equal importance. 


PUNGENT TRUTHS 


365 


This was the fault of the Pharisees. They laid great stress 
on little things. They were careful to tithe everything 
they raised, even down to garden vegetables. They were 
exceedingly scrupulous about their dress. But they paid 
but little attention to what the Bible says about having 
right affections towards God and our being governed by 
right principles in our relations with our fellow men. Did 
Christ commend them for this? On the contrary, he poured 
upon them the strongest denunciations. “Woe unto you, 
scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for ye pay tithe of mint 
and anise and cummin, and have omitted the weightier 
matters of the law.” 





SUBJECT INDEX 


Accurate Statement . .* . 1 

Altar Work . 2-4 

Authority . 5 

Awakening: . ‘.... ^ . 6 , 7 

Backslider . 8-12 

Backsliding . 13 

Baptized Heathen . 14 

Believing and Confessing. 15 

Bible .16-19 

Blessing of God. 20 

Bread, Daily . 21 

Burdens of the Lord. 22 

Business for God. 23 

Camp-meeting .24-34 

Character and Reputation. 35 

Children .36-40 

Christ .41, 42 

Christ’s Messenger . 43 

Christ’s Yoke . 44 

Christian . 45 

Christians ....*..46-51 

Christian Character . 52 

Christian Courage . 53 

Christian Courtesy . 54 

Christian Fervor . 55 

Christian Integrity . 56 

Christian Principle . 57 

Christian Profession . 58 

Christianity and Anti-Christian¬ 
ity . 59 

Christmas Gifts . 61 

Christmas Spirit . 60 

Church .62-65, 67, 69, 73 

Churches . 68 , 74-78 

Church Entertainments . 70 

Church Membership . 66 

Church Officers . 72 

Church Organization . 71 

Civility . 79 

Class-meeting .. 80 

Commands . 81 

Commentary . 82 

Complaints ... 83 


Compromise .84-87 

Conditions of Salvation. 88 

Conscience . 89 

Consecration . 90 

Consecration to God. 91 

Conference . 92 

Confession . 93 

Considerate, Be . 94 

Consideration of Others. 95 

Consistent Living . 96 

Constancy . 97 

Contentment . 98 

Controversial Spirit . 99 

Conversion . 100 

Conversions .101, 102 

Converts .103, 104 

Conviction .105, 106 

Courage .107-109 

Courteous, Be . 110 

Critics . Ill 

Critical . 112 

Criticism . 113 

Death, Triumph in. 114 

Debt .115-117 

Debts . 118 

Deceived . 119 

Deceived Souls . 120 

Deception . 121 

Definite, We Must Be. 122 

Delay . 123 

Delusion . 124 

Demonstrations . 125 

Development . 126 

Devotion . 127 

Discernment . 132 

Discipleship . 128 

Discipline .129-131 

Discontent . 133 

Discrimination . 134 

Doing or Doubting . 135 

Dress .136-142 

Duty . 143 

Early Rising 144 


( 367 ) 


























































































368 


SUBJECT INDEX 


Education . 145 

Enemies . 146 

Envy . 147 

Errors . 148 

Evangelist . 149 

Evil Speaking . 150 

Evolution .151, 152 

Exhort, Right to. 153 

Experience . 154 

Extremists . 155 

Faith ..156, 157 

Faith and Works. 158 

Fallow Ground . 159 

Fault . 160 

Faults .161-164 

Faultfinders . 166 

Faultfinding . 165 

Formality . 167 

Forms .168, 169 

Forgiveness . 170 

Forgiving Spirit . 171 

Free Churches .172-174 

Freemason Revivalists . 178 

Freemasonry .175, 176 

Freemasons and Mormons. 177 

Free Methodist, The Term.... 182 

Free Methodist, The . 184 

Free Methodists . 183 

Free Methodist Church.179, 180 

Free Methodist Preacher. 181 

Fretfulness .185, 186 

Friendship . 187 

Gentleness . 188, 189 

Genuine Experience . 190 

Gifts of God. 191 

Giving . 192 

God, Delight in . 193 

God’s Ability to Provide. 194 

God’s Message . 195 

God’s Order . 196 

Godly Lives . 197 

Gospel .198-200 

Grace .201-203 

Grit Versus Grace. 204 

Growth in Grace. 205 

Habits . 206 

Healing .<. 207 

Heart-Searching . 208 

Hell on Earth. 209 

Holiness .210-224 

Holy, Be Ye. 225 

Holy Spirit .226-229 

Honesty .230-235 

Humble, The .,*.237 


Humbling Yourself ........... 238 

Humility . 236 

Hurried Spirit . 239 

Hypocrite . 241 

Hypocrites . 240 

Impatience . 242 

Important Question . 243 

Impressions . 244 

Indifference .245, 246 

Infidel Credulity . 247 

Infidelity . 248 

Innocence . 249 

Instruction . 250 

Integrity . 251 

Interest in Others. 252 

Issues . 253 

Jesting . 254 

Jesuits . 255 

Kindness . 256 

Labor and Rest . 257 

Law, Vindicatory . 258 

Leadings . 259 

Letter and Spirit . 260 

Liberality . 261 

Liberty . 262 

Life .263, 264 

Light .265-267 

Liquor Traffic . 268 

Love .269-271 

Lukewarmness .272-274 

Marriage . 275 

Marrying Drunkards .276 

Meetings .277-281 

Members .282-284 

Membership . 285 

Men, True . 286 

Mind .287-289 

Ministers, Inviting . 290 

Mistakes .291, 292 

Money .293, 294 

Monopolies . 295 

Morality . 297 

Moral Standards . 296 

Motives .298, 299 

New Year . 300 

No-Sectism . 301 

Obedience .302-305 

Opposition .308, 309 

Order . 306 

Order and Power . 307 

Ourselves . 310 

Parents . 313 

Parents and Children.311, 312 

Parsonage Property . 314 














































































































SUBJECT INDEX 


369 


Pastoral Support 316 


Pastoral Visiting . 315 

Patience .317, 318 

Perfect Love .319, 320 

Persecuting Christ . 323 

Persecution .321, 322 

Perseverance .324, 325 

Personal Labor . 326 

Personal Liberty . 327 

Personal Work . 328 

Piety . 329 

Pleasure and Piety. 331 

Pleasure-Loving Professors. 330 

Politics and Spirituality. 332 

Popular Churches . 334 

Position . 333 

Power .335-339 

Praise of Men. 340 

Prayer .341-351 

Prayer-meeting . 352 

Preach ..353, 354 

Preachers .360-414 

Preachers’ Wives . 415 

Preaching .355-357, 359 

Preaching Hypocrite . 358 

Presumptuous Persons .416 

Pride .417-420 

Probationary Opportunities .... 421 

Professors .422, 423 

Prohibition .424, 425 

Promises . 426 

Property .427, 428 

Prophesying . 429 

Providence .430, 431 

Providences of God. 432 

Publio Teaching . 433 

Pulpit . 434 

Punishment, Future .435 

Purpose . 436 

Quietness . 437 

Reading . 438 

Recklessness .439 

Reforming Men . 440 

Regeneration . 441 

Relatives . 442 

Religion .443-447 

Religious and Political Aristoc¬ 
racy . 449 

Religious Newspaper . 448 

Reproach . 450 

Reproaching One’s Neighbor.. 451 

Reproof .452-454 

Resurrection Power . 455 


Revival, 459-461, 463-466, 469, 

470, 472, 473, 476 


Revivals, 456*458, 462, 471, 

.475, 477 

Revival Meetings... .467, 468, 474 


Revival Spirit . 479 

Revival Work . 478 

Rich .480, 481 

Riches .482-484 

Righteous Life . 485 

Righteousness, National .486 

Roman Catholics . 487 

Roman Catholic Church ...488, 489 

Romanism .490-492 

Roots of Bitterness. 493 

Rule or Ruin Spirit . 494 

Sabbath .495-499, 601 

Sabbath Amusement . 500 

Saints .502-504 

Saloon .507, 508, 511, 512 

Saloons .505, 506, 509, 510 

Saloon-keepers .513, 514 

Salvation .515-517 

Sanctification .518, 519 

Satan .520, 521 

Schools . 522 

Scolding . 523 

Scriptures . 524 

Scrupulousness, Over- . 525 

Secret Labor Organizations.... 526 

Secret Societies . 527 

Sects . 528 

Security for Others . 529 

Self-deception . 630 

Self-denial . 531 

Selfishness .532, 533 

Sensitiveness . 534 

Sermons .535, 536 

Service . 537 

Simple Life . 538 

Singing .539, 540 

Sin .541, 542 

Sinners .543, 544 

Slang . 545 

Slothful Professor . 546 

Social Being, Man A. 547 

Societies . 548 

Soul . 649, 550 

Souls, Dealing with. 551 

Soul-saving . 552 

Sowing and Reaping . 556 

Speech . 553 

Spirit . 554 

Spiritual Strength . 555 

Straight Way . 557 

Strangers, Signing Papers for.. 558 
Strength . 659, 560 






































































































370 


SUBJECT INDEX 


Strenuous • ..... • 


Union Services 

• 111111 

1111111 604 

Study . 

. 562 

Unity of Effort 


. 605 

Submission . 

..563-568 

Unity of Spirit 


. 606 

Substitute for the Gospel. 

. 569 

Unreasonable Men .... 

. 607 

Superficial Work . 

. 570 

Unsaved . 


. ..608, 609 

Sympathy . 

..571-573 

Veracity . 


. 610 

Tact . 

. 574 

Victorious Life 


. 611 

Talents .*. 

. 675 

Victory . 


. 612 

Teachableness . 

. 576 

Wait Upon the 

Lord .. 

. 613 

Teaching . 

. 577 

Walking in the 

Light. 

. 614 

Temper . 

578, 679 

Wanderings 


. 615 

Temptation . 

..580-582 

Warned . 


. 616 

Testimony . 

.583, 584 

Warnings .... 


. 617 

Thankful . 

. 585 

Wisdom . 


.618-620 

Thanksgiving . 

. 586 

Wise . 


. 621 

Time . 

. 587 

Woman . 


. 622 

Tobacco . 

. .588-591 

Women . 


. 623 

Tongue . 

. .592-594 

Word of God . 


. 624 

Trances, Etc. 

. 595 

Words . 


...625, 626 

Treasures . 

.596 

Work . 


. 627 

Tried Men . 

. 597 

Works . 


. . ..629-631 

Trouble . 

. 598 

Workers . 


. 628 

Truthfulness . 

. 599 

Writing for the 

Public. 

_632-635 

Uncharitable Spirit . 

. 600 

Yielding Spirit 


. 636 

Unction . 

601, 602 

Zc&l • •«i • • *«* * 

t 1 1 « 1 • 1 1 

,,,.§37.641 

Union .. 
























































ANALYTICAL INDEX 


Numbers in brackets are references to paragraphs bearing in most 
cases some other title, but in which the subject may be found. 


Aocurate Statement, Importance of, 1 
Adversity, Saints in [503] 

Altar Work: Prayer important, 2 
Salvation only by Holy Ghost, 4 
United prayer the means, 3 
Anarchy, Saloon and [507] 
Application, Mental [288] 
Aristocracy, Religious [449] 
Attacks upon Members [282] 
Authority to be respected, 5 
Awakening, Efforts for, 6 
True, 7 

Backslider? Are you a, 8 
Death of a, 12 
Deceived, 9 

Redeeming feature of a, 10 
Return, 11 

Backsliding when old, 13 
Baptized Heathen, 14 
Believing and Confessing, 15 
Bible, The, 16 
Mysteries, 17 
Never changes, 18 
Reading, 19 

Blessing of God: It maketh rich, 20 
Bread, Daily, Provided, 21 
Burdens of the Lord not crushing, 22 
Business for God, Not slothful in, 23 
Busybodies [259] 

Camp-meeting Collections, 34 
Family altar at, 30 
Location of, 24 
Manner of preaching at, 25 
Preaching at, 26 
Preachers should be burdened for 
souls, 27 

Preachers should remain at the 
altar, 28 

Public criticism at, 29 
Strangers at, 31 
Success, 33 


Take your children to [37] 
Thorough work at, 32 
Character and Reputation, 35 
Children, Labor for conversion of, 36 
Modesty in dress of, 39 
Should be taught to work, 40 
Take your, to camp-meeting, 37 
Where are your, 38 
Christ, All in all, 41 
Spirit of, essential, 42 
Christ’s Messenger must have 

courage, 43 
Christ’s Yoke, 44 

Christian, A, must be both firm 

and yielding, 45 

Christians, All, working Chris¬ 
tians, 46 
Are citizens, 48 
Consistent, 47 

Must respect the rights of others, 
49 

Should read and inform them¬ 

selves, 50 
Should study, 51 

Christian Character, Building, 52 
Christian Courage, 63 
Christian Courtesy, 54 
Christian Fervor, Awakening, 55 
Christian Integrity must be re¬ 
tained, 56 

Christian Principle, Foundation of 
Christian character, 57 
Christian Profession: Start right, 58 
Christian Science [191] 

Christianity and Anti-Christianity, 
59 

Christless Prayer unavailing [348] 
Christmas Gifts, 61 

Christmas Spirit, 60 

Church and riches, 63 
And the world, 69 


( 371 ) 






372 


ANALYTICAL INDEX 


Governing power in, 73 
Must have life, 64 
Progresses by power, 65 
Of Jesus Christ, 62 
Urge converts to join, 67 [104] 
Churches, Building, 74 
Bo not borrow to build, 75 
Buty of trustees, 78 
Expensive versus inexpensive, 77 
No fellowship with fashionable, 68 
Property title should be clear, 76 
Church Entertainments, 70 [330, 

331] 

Church Membership should not be 
sought for secular ends, 66 
[58] 

Church Officers should be of humble 
spirit, 72 

Church Organization, 71 
Civility to strangers, 79 
Class-meeting attendance, 80 
Commands, All, must be obeyed, 81 
Commentary, Choice of, 82 
Complaints: Bo not print them, 83 
Compromise, Banger of, 85 
Never, 86 

Parents should not [313] 

There must be no, 87 
To, may be fatal, 84 
Conditions of Salvation must be 
preached, 88 

Conscience must be tender, 89 
Consecration, Mistaken, 90 
Of talents [575] 

Consecration to God the better 
way, 91 

Conference: Importance of attend¬ 
ing devotional exercises at, 
92 

Confession, 93 [15] 

Fetter Lane [238] 

Considerate, Be, 94 
Consideration of Others, 95 
Consistent Living, 96 
Constancy, 97 

Contentment with godliness, great 
gain, 98 [538] 

Controversial Spirit to be avoided, 99 
Conversion a miracle, 100 
Must be thorough, 101 
Superficial, 102 

Converts must turn from sin, 103 
Should be invited to join, 104 
[67] 


Conviction, An evidence of, 105 
Godly lives a source of [197] 
Should be yielded to, 106 
Corruption in office [486] 

Courage, 107 [53] 

Needed, 108 
. Prayer for, 109 
Courteous, Be, 110 [31, 54, 79] 
Credulity, Infidel [247] 

Critics, Troublers in Zion, 111 
Critical, Bo not be, 112 
Criticism, Spirit of, destructive, 113 
Beath, Triumph in, 114 
Bebt, Bo not go in, 115 

No excuse for not giving, 117 
Preachers should not go into, 116 
Bebts should be paid, 118 
Beceived, Banger of being, 119 
Beceived Souls, 120 
Beception, 121 

Becision in temptation [580] 
Befinite, We must be, 122 
Belay, Example of, 123 
Belight in God [193] 

Beliverance, Example of [336] 
Belusion, Banger of, 124 
Fatal [334] 

Bemonstrations, Political and re¬ 
ligious, 125 

Bevelopment always possible, 126 
Bevotion, Fires of, must be kept 
burning, 127 
Biligence [23, 402] 

Biscernment, 132 
Biscipleship, Conditions of, 128 
Biscipline must be sustained, 129 
Must be with leniency, 130 
Versus salvation, 131 
Biscontent, Remedy for, 133 
Biscrimination necessary, 134 
Boing or Boubting, 135 
Bress, Command respecting, to be 
regarded, 139 
Of children [39] 

Of clergymen, 142 
Ornaments of a Cnristian, 141 
Should be plain, 140 
Superfluous ornaments formerly 
forbidden, 137 
Worldly, a hindrance, 138 
Worldly conformity in, 136 [47, 
128] 

Buty, Conviction of, 143. 

Bivinely taught [22] 



ANALYTICAL INDEX 


373 


Early Rising, 144 
Education, 145 [405] 

Enemies, Christ commands us to 
love our, 146 
Envy, Cure for, 147 
Errors, Wisdom in dealing with, 148 
Evangelist, The work of an, 149 
Evil Speaking, 150 [592-594] 
Evolution, Argument against, 151 
Doctrine of, little proof for, 152 
Exaggeration [271] 

Exhort, Right to, a common privi¬ 
lege, 153 

Experience, Fresh, 154 
Extermists, 155 
Faith, Obedient, 156 

Saving, 157 
Faith and Works, 158 
Falling [90, 259, 595] 

Fallow Ground, 159 

Fashions must be opposed [69] 
Fault, Dealing with one in, 160 

Faults must be acknowledged to 

God, 161 

Must be corrected in a right 
manner, 162 

Of others, Dealing with, 163 
Spying out, 164 

Faultfinders must not be heeded, 
166 

Faultfinding, 165 
Fetter Lane confession [238] 

Firmness under persecution [321, 

322] 

Fenelon on [163] 

Forgiveness, Spirit of, must be 

maintained, 170 
Forgiving Spirit, 171 
Formality in Religion, 167 
Forms, Religious: their value, 

168 

To be retained, 169 
Free Churches: Effect of pew sell¬ 
ing, 174 

In Wesley’s day, 173 
Needed, 172 [199] 

Freemasonry antichristian, 176 
Foe to Christianity, 175 
Freemasons and Mormons com¬ 
pared, 177 

Freemason Revivalists should not be 
assisted, 178 

Free Methodist Church, friend of 
the poor, 179 


Must keep the old way, 180 
Free Methodist Preacher must have 
settled convictions, 181 
Free Methodist, Prejudice against 
the term, 182 

Free Methodists a separate people, 
183 

Free Methodist, The, Suggestions 
to contributors to, 184 
Fretfulness discouraging, 185 
To be put away, 186 
Friendship ties must not be 
broken, 187 

Fruitfulness, Unction necessary to 
[602] 

Gentleness, 188 
Greatness of, 189 
Genuine Experience, 190 
Gifts of God imitated, 191 
Giving, Rule for, 192 
God, Delight in, 193 
Our strength [559, 560] 

God’s Ability to provide, 194 
God’s Message should be delivered, 
195 

God’s Order best, 196 
Godly Lives a source of convic¬ 
tion, 197 

Gospel for the poor, 198 

For the poor—Free churches, 

199 [172, 173] 

Progress slow, 200 
Grace, Growth in [205] 

Salvation by [515] 

Tested, 202 
Through faith, 201 
Transforms, 203 
Grit Versus Grace, 204 
Growth in Grace, 205 
Habits of great men, not to be 
imitated, 206 

Healing, Prayer of faith for, 207 
Heart-searching for discouraged 
preachers, 208 
Hell on earth, 209 
High License [424] 

Hoarding Money [293] 

Holiness and Heaven, 222 
By faith, 210 
Counterfeited, 224 
Hates wrong, 211 
Must be clearly preached, 217 
Must be commended by the life, 



374 


ANALYTICAL INDEX 


V 

One can not have, and get mad, 
216 

Perfect Love [319, 320] 
Practical, 215 
Profession of, opposed, 214 
Real, 223 

Regaining the blessing of, 221 
Sanctification [518, 519] 

Spurious, does not antagonize 
evil, 212 

Standard must not be too high, 
219 

Standard to be kept up, 220 
To be definitely preached, 218 
Holy, Be ye, 225 

Holy Spirit: First need in 

trouble, 226 
Necessary, 227 
No substitute for, 228 
Restraint of the, 229 
Honesty, 230 

Characterizes a true Christian, 
233 

Heart, 234 
In religion, 232 
Principle of, 235 
We should be able to prove our, 
231 [294] 

Humble, The, secure Christ’s pres¬ 
ence, 237 

Humbling Yourself, Need of, 238 
Humility, 236 

Hurried Spirit, Avoid a, 239 
Hymn-book [540] 

Hypocrite, Preaching [358] 
Religious, 241 
Hypocrites, 240 
Impatience, 242 [476] 

Important Question, The, 243 
Impressions, How decide charac¬ 
ter of, 244 

Indifference, Religious, 245 
Spiritual, damning, 246 
Infidel credulity, 247 
Infidelity unprofitable, 248 
Innocence to be preserved, 249 
Instruction provided for all, 250 
Integrity must be retained [56, 
249] 

Value of, 251 

Interest in others will be genu¬ 
ine, 252 

Issues must be advanced judi¬ 
ciously, 253 


Jesting injurious, 254 
Jesuits and morality, 255 

Devoted to Romanism [487, 488, 
491] 

Submission of [567] 

Kendall, William, Death of [114] 
Kindness, 256 

Knox, John, Death of [114] 

Labor and Rest, 257 

Labor Organizations [526, 527] 

Law, Vindicatory, 258 
Laziness [396, 546] | 

Leadings, Mistaken, 259 
Letter and Spirit, 260 
Levity [277] 

Liberality toward God, 261 
Liberty not lawlessness, 262 
Life, Brevity of, 263 

Spiritual, Importance of, 264 
Light of God’s grace, 265 

Welcome and walk in the, 266 
Within, 267 

Liquor Traffic a disgrace, 268 
Love is self-sacrificing, 269 

To God, the essential thing, 270 
Will not exaggerate, 271 
Lukewarmness a great enemy, 272 
Leads to loss of soul, 273 
Offensive to God, 274 
Marriage, should be “In the Lord’’ 
[313] 

Warning to young women, 275 
Marrying Drunkards, 276 
Meetings injured by light spirit, 
277 

Opening, 278 

Protracted, 279 [456-479] 

Strangers in our, 280 
Street [6, 354] 

Union, 281 

Members, Patience with, 282 

Preachers must respect the rights 
of, 283 

Should be given work, 284 
Membership merely will not save 
one, 285 

Men, Tried, dependable [597] 

True, should be recognized, 286 
Unreasonable [607] 

Mind must be expanded, 288 
Power of, over body, 287 
Sound, 289 

Ministers of other denominations, 
Inviting, 290 



ANALYTICAL TNDEX 


375 


Ministering to saints [549] 
Mistakes should be acknowledged, 
291 

Should be confessed, 292 
Money should not be hoarded, 293 
Wisdom to be exercised in hand¬ 
ling, 294 

Monopolies characterized, 295 
Moral Standards must be kept up, 

296 

Morality, One standard of, for all, 

297 

Motives, 298 

Worldly, fatal in choosing Christ, 
299 

New Year, A Happy, 300 
No-Sectism, 301 
Obedience demanded, 302 

Test of friendship for Christ, 303 
To God’s commands, mark of a 
Christian, 304 
To our superiors, 305 
Opposition, Stand firm against, 
309 

The godly may experience, 308 
Order essential, 306 
Order and Power, 307 
Organization [307] 

Ornaments [137] 

Ourselves, We should know, 310 
Parents should not compromise, 313 
Parents and Children: overtender¬ 
ness cruel, 312 
Right training, 311 
Parsonage Property, 314 
Pastoral Support and visiting, 316 
Pastoral Visiting, 315 
Patience, a useful grace, 317 
Will have its reward, 318 
Perfect Love, 819 [210-225, 518, 

519] 

Essential, 320 
Persecution, 321 

Firmness under, 322 
Persecuting Christ in his disciples, 
323 

Perseverance, 324 
Will secure the reward, 325 
Personal Labor, Manner of, 326 
Personal Liberty plea, a subter¬ 
fuge, 327 

Personal Rights [262] 

Personal Work Commended, 328 
Pew Selling [174] 


Pharisees Described [9] 

Piety a power, 329 
Pleasure and Piety, 331 
Pleasure-loving Professors, 330 [331] 
Politics and Spirituality, 332 
Position not to be sought, 333 
Popular Churches: Fatal error in 
teaching, 334 

Power, a gift of God, 335 
By restraint, 337 
Enduement of, 338 
Of God exhibited, 336 
To speak, 339 

Praise of Men destructive, 340 
Prayer and prudence, 351 
Answer to, recognized, 342 
Ardent, the lack of the church, 
343 

Christless, unavailing, 348 

Family, at camp-meeting [30] 

Importance of continuing in, 350 

Manner of, 341 

Must not be neglected, 345 

Of faith for healing [207] 

Of Martin Luther [20] 

Prevailing, 346 
Simple-hearted, prevails, 347 
Time must be secured for, 349 
Want of fervency in, accounted 
for, 344 

Prayer-meeting, Primitive, 852 
Preach the gospel constantly, 354 
Gospel truth, 353 
Preaching, Definite, 355 
Definite purpose in, 356 
Fresh truth required, 357 
Must be in the Holy Ghost, 
359 

Warn every man [616, 617] 
Preaching Hypocrite, 358 
Preachers are watchmen, 371 
Are you successful? 404 
Backslidden, 398 
Be good to your, 388 
Called of God, are often slow 
and diffident, 362 
Care of worn-out, 387 
Declension of spiritual life in, 
397 

Discouraged [208] 

Do not always have equal liberty, 
380 

Education, 405 

Evidences of their call, 360 





370 ANALYTICAL INDEX 


Faithful, not likely to be popu¬ 
lar, 391 

Faithful, rewarded, 383 
Gifts and graces, 361 
Half-heartedness destroys useful¬ 
ness of, 392 

Hard study necessary, 407 
Health rules for, 414 
Heart must be in work, 368 
In conflict with members, 394 
Indiscretion, 395 

Labor under a disadvantage, 379 
[182] 

Lazy, 396 

Licensing, 366 

Like, like people, 393 

Men of one business, 370 

Must be active, 377 

Must be faithful to God, 375 

Must be in sympathy with us, 

389 

Must feel for the lost, 373 
Must respect rights of members 
[283] 

Must study, 406 [562] 

Neglect of calling perilous, 363 
Object of their study, 408 
Of righteousness, 374 
Pulpit preparation, 412 [278, 

536] 

Reception to new circuit, 385 
Recommending, 364 
Recommending—Continued, 365 
Reverence in the pulpit, 378 
Self-indulgent, 381 
Should be consecrated to work, 367 
Should be good generals, 372 
Should be humble, 376 
Should divide their subject, 413 
Should give members work [284] 
Should go early to their cir¬ 
cuits, 384 

Should have deep convictions, 
369 [181] 

Should not forsake calling, 382 
Should not talk too much, 399 
Study and labor not in conflict, 

411 

Successful and unsuccessful, 403 
Sympathy [571-573] 

To be esteemed for work’s sake, 

390 

Unconverted, 401 
Wants to be known, 386 


Warned against jealousy, 400 
Will succeed, if diligent, 402 
Young, should pursue a course of 
study, 409 

Young, should read, 410 
Preachers’ Wives, 415 
Prejudice [182] 

Presumptuous persons, 416 
Pride, 417 
A damning sin, 418 
Shown in disputing, 419 
Spiritual, 420 

Probationary Opportunities soon 
gone, 421 

Procrastination, Example of [123] 
Professors, Characteristics of popu¬ 
lar, 422 
Fruitless, 423 

Prohibition and high license, 424 
Needed for all, 425 
Promises, 426 

Property, Consecrated, 427 
In old age, 428 
Title should be clear [76] 
Prophesying in the Spirit, 429 
Providence, Act in harmony with, 431 
Christ cares for faithful servants, 
430 

Providences of God, 432 
Public Teaching, 433 
Pulpit: Enter it prepared, 434 

[278, 412, 536] 

Punishment, Future, 435 
Purpose, Singleness of, 436 
Quietness an element of strength, 
437 

Reading, Give attention to, 438 
Recklessness, 439 

Reforming Men not sufficient, 440 
Regeneration or reformation, 
which 1 441 

Relatives, Aged and helpless, 
should be cared for, 442 
Religion, Foundation of true 
greatness, 443 
Mixed, a curse, 447 
Modern conversions [44] 

Not in externals, 444 
Our, a benefit to all, 445 
Trading in, for profit, 446 
Religious and Political Aristo¬ 
cracy, 449 

Religious Newspaper, The province 
of a, 448 



ANALYTICAL INDEX 


O I I 


Writing for the public [632-635] 
Reproach improper among saints, 
450 

Reproaching one’s neighbor, 451 
Reproof, 452 

Manner of, 453 [624] 

Should be taken kindly, 454 
Reputation [35] 

Rest [257] 

Restraint, Benefit of [337, 564] 

Of the Holy Spirit [229] 
Resurrection power required, 455 
Revelations [595] 

Revival: Begin right, 464 
Begun, 469 

Destroyed by impatience, 476 
Efforts unmixed, 472 
General suggestions for a, 463 
Genuine, 459 
Implies new life, 460 
May be begun where two are 
agreed, 470 

Members should continue, 473 
Old-fashioned, 461 
Opportunity to be improved, 466 
Protracted Meetings [279] 

Where begin? 465 
Revivals, 456 
All the year, 475 
Cottage prayer-meetings, 471 
Needed, 457 

Needed in every locality, 458 
Not by chance, 462 
Popular, 477 [44] 

Revival Meetings: Do not close 
too soon, 474 [279] 

Should be started early, 467 
To begin in closet, 468 
Revival Work: Superficial or 
thorough? 478 

Revival Spirit must be maintained, 
479 

Reward [383, 630, 631] 

Rich, Gospel not to, 480 
Oppressors of souls, 481 
Riches, 482 
Dangerous, 483 
Obstacle to salvation, 484 
Righteous Life brings peaceful 
end, 485 

Righteous, Reward of [383] 
Righteousness, National, 486 
Roman Catholics: Jesuits, 487 

[255, 488, 491, 567] 


Roman Catholic Church aggres¬ 
sive, 488 

And property, 489 
Romanism, Aggressions of, 490 
And free institutions, 491 
And the public schools, 492 
Roots of Bitterness, 493 
Rule or Ruin Spirit unchristlike, 
494 

Sabbath, The, 495 

Not to be secularized, 498 
Preparation for [496] 

Preservation of the, 497 
Seventh-day, 501 
To be valued, 496 
Worldly conversation not to be 
indulged, 499 
Sabbath Amusement, 500 
Saints “approved of men,” 502 
Overfed, 504 

Persevere in adversity, 503 
Saloon: Headquarters of anarchy, 

507 

Must die, 512 
Should be outlawed, 508 
Woe for those who vote to le¬ 
galize, 511 

Saloons: Kept by convicts as pun¬ 
ishment, 610 
Murder mills, 509 
Should be suppressed, 505 
Society has the right to sup¬ 
press, 506 

Saloon-keepers: Oppressors, 518 

Versus preachers, 514 
Salvation: By grace, 515 

Requires earnest effort, 516 
Rich may be saved, 517 
Sanctification, 518, 519 [210-225, 

319, 320] 

Must be preached, 519 
Remedy for sensitiveness [534] 
Through the truth, 518 
Satan hates real manifestations 
of the Holy Ghost, 520 
Imposes crosses, 521 
Schools, Salvation, 522 
Scolding will not do, 523 
Scriptures, Wresting of, 524 
Scrupulousness, Over-, 525 
Secret Labor Organizations, 526 
[527] 

Secret Societies and labor, 527 
[526] 



378 


ANALYTICAL INDEX 


Sects, 528 

Security for Others, 529 
Seekers, Dealing with [2, 101, 105] 
Self-deception, 530 
Self-denial must be practised, 531 
Selfishness and Christ’s religion, 
532 

The great obstacle, 633 
Self-sacrifice [269] 

Sensitiveness, Sanctification remedy 
for, 534 

Separation [183] 

Sermons, Powerless, 535 
Should he studied and outline 
written, 536 [409, 412, 413] 
Service must be whole-hearted, 637 
Simple Life, Advantages of, 538 
Singing, 539 

Hymn-books, 540 
Sin, Besetting, 541 
Progresssion in, 542 
Sinners must forsake all wrong, 
543 

Services should be accepted, 544 
Slander [326] 

Slang should never be used, 645 
[626] 

Slothful Professor, 546 
Social Being, Man a, 547 
Societies, Forming new, 648 
Soul Food, 549 

Hunger must be satisfied, 650 
Souls, Wisdom required in deal¬ 
ing with, 551 

Soul-saving, Devotion to, 552 
Speech, Plainness of, 553 
Spirit, Be filled with the, 554 
Spiritual Strength must be re¬ 
newed, 555 

Sowing and Reaping, 556 
Straight Way, 557 
Straitened Circumstances [613] 
Strangers, Do not sign papers for, 
558 

In our meetings [280] 

Strength, God is our, 559 
Our, in God, 560 

Strenuous, Not enough to be, 561 
Study, Importance of, 562 [51, 405- 
411] 

Submission, Christian, graceful, 565 
Essential to Christian life, 564 
Must be mutual, 566 
Obedience to authorities, 567 


Required, 563 

To government important, 568 
Substitute for the Gospel, 569 
Superficial Work is deceiving, 570 
Superfluities, Remove [138-140] 
Bishop Morris on, [47] 
Supernumerary, A [565] 

Sympathy, 571 
Power of, 572 
Practical, 573 
Tact, Commendable, 574 
Talents to be employed, 575 
Talking, Foolish [254] 

Teachableness a mark of true 
conversion, 576 
Teaching, Accuracy in, 577 
Temper, Control of, 578 
Uncontrolled, 579 

Temptation, Decision required in, 
580 

Grace will be tested, 581 
Keep away from, 582 
Testimony, Holy Ghost, needed, 
584 

Means of salvation, 583 
Test of Friendship [303, 304] 

Of Grace [581] 

Of Obedience [302, 303] 

Thankful to others, 585 
Thanksgiving, 586 
Time, Improvement of, 587 
Tobacco, 588 

Destroyer, A, 589 
Nuisance, 590 
Rights of others [49] 

Users, 591 

Tongue Employed by Satan, 592 
Governing the, 693 
Must be controlled, 594 
Trances, falling, etc., not always 
of God, 595 

Treasures, Secure the right kind 
of, 596 

Tried Men more dependable, 697 
Triumphant Death [611] 

Trouble, Call upon God in, 598 
Truthfulness, 599 
Uncharitable Spirit, 600 
Unction, divine, Need of, 601 
Necessary to fruitfulness, 602 
Union, In, is strength, 603 
Union Services not desirable, 604 
[281] 

Unity of Effort essential, 605 



ANALYTICAL INDEX 


379 


Unity of Spirit urged, 606 
Unreasonable Men, 607 
Unsaved sometimes employed by 
God, 608 
Why delay? 609 
Veracity, 610 

Victorious Life brings triumphant 
death, 611 

Victory over one’s self important, 
612 

Visions, etc. [595] 

Voltaire, Death of [248] 

Votes, Buying, [486] 

Wait Upon the Lord when strait¬ 

ened in circumstances, 613 
Walking in the Light, Necessity 
of, 614 

Wanderings in the wilderness, 615 
Warned, Every man should be, 616 
Warnings, Faithful, 617 
Will, Making a [427] 

Wisdom as well as zeal, necessary, 

618 

Indispensable, 619 

True, 620 

Wise in their own eyes, 621 
Woman uplifted by the gospel, 622 


Women: Earnest gospel workers, 

623 

Word of God, Meditation upon the, 

624 

Words, Careless, 625 
Pure, 626 

Work, Steady, required, 627 
Workers, Develop your own, 628 
Works, 629 
And rewards, 631 
Rewarded, 630 
Worldly Conformity [136] 

Worry [257] 

Writing for the Public: Be manly, 
633 

Be sure of facts, 632 
Do not be contentious, 634 [99] 
General suggestions, 635 [184] 

Wrong Notions [253] 

Yielding spirit, 636 

Zeal, Intemperate, 637 

Must result from union with 

Christ, 639 

Not for notions, but for Christ, 
640 

Properly balanced, 641 
Tempered by grace, 688 















































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































































’ 
























































































































































































































































